'Adversaries must respect the people of Iran'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a summit of regional leaders Friday that Iran's adversaries must "begin respecting the people of Iran" and repeated his nation's assertion that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. In a speech to the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Iranian leader said his country's "adversaries are waging a psychological war and trying to establish a nuclear apartheid to prevent our people from exercising their inalienable rights." "I advise them not to repeat the experiences of the past and begin respecting the people of Iran," Ahmadinejad said. "Our nuclear programs are solely for peaceful purposes. ... I declare that the baseless accusations leveled against us by the bullying powers of the world will by no means change the resolve of our nation to move forward on the path to advancement and progress," he said.