Iran Is a Nuclear Power Ready to Participate in Running the World

Ahmadinejad: Iran Is a Nuclear Power Ready to Participate in Running the World - www.memri.org

Since U.S. President Barack Obama took office, two new elements have become evident in the rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and of senior Iranian regime officials from his camp: a) that Iran is not only a regional power but a superpower on the global level, and is a partner in shaping the world, and b) that the Iranian nuclear issue is closed, and that the world has come to terms, or must come to terms, with a nuclear Iran; Iran will no longer discuss the issue with the U.S.
or the West.

The following are examples of statements in this regard.

"Iran Is Ready To Participate Extensively In Running the World"; "The U.S. Is Coming To Terms with Iran Being Nuclear"

During an April 18, 2009 Iranian Army Day ceremony at the tomb of the founder of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said, "Thanks to the dedication of the armed forces, Iran is ready to participate extensively in running the world and in establishing security and justice in various parts of the world."

At a conference of families of shahids (martyrs) in Qazvin, northern Iran, Ahmadinejad said that "as a major power, Iran is playing a leading role in the global decision-making process." He said that Iran is "the final victor in all topics on the agenda," and that as long as the Iranian nation obeys Islam and Islamic religious law, it will accomplish its goals.

During his April 2009 visit to China, Ahmadinejad's vice president Parviz Davoudi reiterated Ahmadinejad's statements, saying that in his estimation, "the U.S. is coming to terms with Iran being nuclear, since it already came to terms with Iran's nuclearization process, and [Iran is] now worthy to discuss important global issues together with the
5+1."

Basij commander Hossein Taab said that following the fall of the Soviet Union, only two powers remain in the world – the U.S. and Iran – and both want to lead the world. He added, "The U.S. has military strength, but cannot pull the trigger."

At a press conference in late May 2009, Ahmadinejad announced that following Iran's June 12 presidential election, talks with the U.S. would continue in the framework of the 5+1, but not on the nuclear issue, because this issue "had already been resolved." He added: "We continue our activities within framework of [International Atomic Energy] Agency regulations. At any rate, negotiations will be merely over world management and sustainable peace and security for entire nations; the Iranian nation will not permit anyone to enter into talks with us [on subjects] outside the regulations of the [IAEA]."

At a May 29, 2009 meeting with Iranian academics, Ahmadinejad said: "The Americans keep sending us messages for negotiation. We are ready to (hold) talks and cooperate. Of course, we are ready to cooperate in global management, global disarmament, and resolving global problems under equal conditions… I should say that Iran’s nuclear issue has been resolved and it is over."


Iran Is Leading a "New Order" – To Replace the "Old Order," Now Obsolete, Led By the U.S. and West

Ahmadinejad and his top officials have stressed that Iran will present its own comprehensive plan for solving the problems of the region and of the world, and that talks are to be based on it and it alone.

A further expression of this approach were Ahmadinejad's statements in Damascus, made alongside Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, in which he stressed that Iran was leading a "new order" that would replace the "old order" led by the U.S. and the West that was now obsolete.In this spirit, Ahmadinejad reiterated his call to U.S. President Barack Obama to debate him at the U.N. General Assembly on issues of global peace and stability.

One prominent example of practical policy in the spirit of these declarations came at the May 24, 2009 tripartite summit in Tehran, with Ahmadinejad, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Pakistani President Asif Zardari. At this summit, which Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said was aimed at finding a strategy for solving the region's problems, the three leaders agreed upon ways of dealing with the terrorism at their borders, particularly with the threat of the Taliban takeover of parts of Pakistan. According to Mottaki, the three countries had broad potential for solving crises and establishing regional security regimes. Also at the summit, the three agreed on the establishment of a regional security apparatus to solve problems.

It should be noted that Iran was invited by the U.S. to a March 31, 2009 international conference on Afghanistan at The Hague, which was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However, the expectation that Iran would participate on a similar level was not met. Iran sent to the conference a representative at the level of ambassador, and then denied that any talks were being held with U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke. Six weeks later, Iran held the tripartite meeting with Karzai and Zardari, at which Khamenei stressed that the "U.S. is the enemy."

Also at the tripartite summit, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stressed that the U.S. military intervention was the source of the problems in the region, demanded that it withdraw its troops, and said that the region's people have intense animosity towards it.

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Obama calls for new effort for 2-state solution - Mark S. Smith – www.news.yahoo.com

WEIMAR, Germany – President Barack Obama toured a World War II concentration camp Friday after prodding the international community to redouble efforts toward separate Israeli and Palestinian states in hopes of resolving a conflict fueled by the Jewish nation's post-Holocaust creation.

"These sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time," Obama said after seeing crematory ovens, barbed-wire fences and guard towers at the Buchenwald camp. "More than half a century later, our grief and our outrage over what happened have not diminished."

Earlier in Dresden, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the U.S. president pressed for progress toward Mideast peace, saying: "The moment is now for us to act."

He added: "The United States can't force peace upon the parties" but America has "at least created the space, the atmosphere, in which talks can restart."

The president also announced he was dispatching special envoy George J. Mitchell to the region next week to follow up on his speech in Cairo a day earlier, in which he called for both Israelis and Palestinians to make concessions in the standoff.

Fresh from visits to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Obama said that while regional and worldwide powers must help achieve peace, responsibility ultimately falls to Israelis and Palestinians to reach an accord.

He said Israel must live up to commitments it made under the so-called "Road Map" peace outline to stop constructing settlements, adding: "I recognize the very difficult politics in Israel of getting that done." He also said Palestinians must control violence-inciting acts and statements, saying Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "has made progress on this issue, but not enough."

Merkel, for her part, promised to cooperate on the long-sought goal. She said the two leaders discussed a time frame for a peace process but did not elaborate.

"With the new American government and the president, there is a truly unique opportunity to revive this peace process or, let us put this very cautiously, this process of negotiations," Merkel said.

Added Obama: "I think the moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, which is each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises."

While Obama did not address benchmarks, he told international reporters Thursday in Egypt: "I don't want to impose an artificial timeline." He added: "When things stall, everybody knows it ... I want to have a sense of movement and progress."

Touching Friday on an issue that has strained American-German relations, Obama also said he didn't seek any commitments from Germany to take a dozen terrorism suspects when the United States closes its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. German officials have said most should be resettled in America.

Merkel said her country is prepared to "constructively contribute" to U.S. closure efforts and said she was confident of eventually reaching a "common solution" on the prisoners' fate.

The two leaders spoke to reporters after meeting privately at a castle in this east Germany city with bitter wartime memories. Starting on the night of Feb. 13, 1945, first British, then American bombers pounded the defenseless and largely non-strategic architectural gem, igniting a firestorm in which 25,000 people died — and in so doing, creating an enduring controversy.

Obama did not address the firebombing, and was in Dresden at the invitation of Merkel, who hails from her country's East.

Later, Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the Buchenwald concentration camp. An estimated 56,000 people, including some 11,000 Jews, perished there at the hands of Nazis. The stop was personal. A great-uncle helped liberate a nearby satellite camp, Ohrdruf, in early April 1945, days before other U.S. Army units overran Buchenwald.

Accompanying Obama was Merkel; Elie Wiesel, a 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner, author and Holocaust survivor whose father died of starvation at Buchenwald three months before liberation; and Bertrand Herz, another Buchenwald survivor. Each one laid a long-stemmed white rose at a steel memorial. They were later joined by Volkhard Knigge, head of the Buchenwald memorial.

"To this day, there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened," Obama said. "This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts, a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."

"This place teaches us that we must be ever vigilant about the spread of evil in our own time," Obama added.

It was a pointed message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has expressed doubts that 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis.

"He should make his own visit" to Buchenwald, Obama told NBC in an interview earlier Friday. He added: "I have no patience for people who would deny history."

Separately, the president told reporters: "The international community has an obligation, even when it's inconvenient, to act when genocide is occurring."

After the tour, Obama was flying to Landstuhl medical hospital, also in Germany, for private visits with U.S. troops recovering from wounds sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan. His day was ending in Paris, with a reunion with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, who planned a brief holiday in the City of Light after Saturday's commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Allies' D-Day invasion in France.