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Mottaki: 'They'll get military responses'
INTERVIEW

‘Our Activities Are Legal’

Iran's foreign minister praises Washington for sending an envoy to talks, but remains defiant.

 

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In New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Iran's tough-talking Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki sat down with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth to discuss how he sees U.S.-Iranian relations and Iran's growing power. Excerpts:

WEYMOUTH: Do you believe there will be an Israeli or an American attack on your nuclear facilities?
MOTTAKI: No.

If there were such an attack by Israel, would you regard it as an attack by the United States?
In the Middle East, [no one] makes a distinction between the U.S. and Israel.

Reportedly, officials in your administration have talked about shutting down the Strait of Hormuz in the event of an attack.
A number of American and Israeli officials express military comments and take military positions. Naturally, they will get military responses.

President Bush called Iran part of the Axis of Evil. Then, last July he sent one of the top U.S. State Department officials, William Burns, to attend negotiations with Iran. That was a pretty big change
We welcomed the participation by Mr. Burns in the Geneva talks. We feel that if this is the real approach taken by the U.S. right now vis-à-vis the nuclear issue, they must continue with such efforts.

So you ' re happy with the U.S. approach?
The American administration has taken the first realistic step.

Just in sending Burns or in what Burns said?
Previously, the U.S. administration attached certain provisos to their presence in the talks. [Burns's] presence in Geneva meant that those were no longer in play. An effort has started and if it is to succeed in resolving the nuclear issue, we have to take it to the next step.

But you are not going to abandon your nuclear program?
What we are doing is completely legal … For us to arrive at a mutual confidence, we need to negotiate.

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: MegaDeath @ 10/17/2008 10:55:25 AM

    2008 is only the begining of the "Prophecy of Doom". Nostradamus (1503-1566) was an French apothecary who was 96% accurate in his ability to fore see and predict the future(500 Years ahead of his time). In his last quatrain he predicted that between 2008-2012 would be the start of the end of civilization. He fore seen the down fall of Western countries through various events leading up to World War lll (A Nuclear War) by 2012, which will start in the Middle East. With the problems we are having in the current economic mess, this could be the first sign.

  • Posted By: ProudJew @ 10/12/2008 9:14:17 PM

    In response to the question about wiping Israel off the face of the earth, Mottaki said, "We do not officially recognize this regime ??? " Why was this comment cut off by Newsweek? Why was there no follow up to this inflammatory response by Lely Weymouth? The silence smacks of complicity.

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/09/2008 2:29:57 PM

    In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
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    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

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