Transcript: ‘Response ... will be a positive one’

TEHRAN, Iran - Following is the complete transcription of the interview Monday between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Brian Williams, anchor of “NBC Nightly News.” Ahmadinejad spoke through a translator:

WILLIAMS: Mr. President, I know you wanted to begin with a statement.

AHMADINEJAD: In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful, a prayer for the emergence of the 12th imam. Greetings to the people of the United States and I want to say something. Today it’s very clear that all nations, all peoples, all thinkers are displeased with the prevailing conditions around the world. The current conditions around the world fly in the face of dignity, human dignity and the standing of human beings. And the specter of — hatred, wars, and poverty is weighing heavy on our different human societies. Naturally, whoever feels for the society of man would also like a happy life, a life full of prosperity. And those of us who have such feelings must make an effort, must make an effort to change the present situation.

And to do that, we need to understand the root cause which have led to the present situation. We believe that a materialistic outlook towards the world and also a materialistic, again, outlook when it comes to human beings and — egoism and also efforts for hegemony and control over others are the root causes of these problems. In a nutshell, distance and — indifference to the teachings of the divine prophets and our ethical standards are the root causes that beguile humanity today.

That is why the teachings of divine prophets, in other words, a belief in the almighty, justice, friendship, and peace and love for fellow human beings, we should return to those. If these come to prevail around the world, they will come to see that the world will be full of peace and friendship, love for one another, and the root causes of these problems will dry up, so to speak. And this is the responsibility weighing on the shoulders of those who have love for their fellow human beings and have — love for different societies around the world. This was what I needed to share with all nations and the people in the United States.

WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr. President. This is our third meeting in 3 years. We last spoke on the record in a setting like this 2 years ago in New York. You’ve accepted our request for an interview, we’ve traveled a great distance to have this conversation. So I am curious to hear in more specific sense, is your message to world, is your message to the United States, one of confrontation or cooperation?

AHMADINEJAD: Well, this question which I am asking from American statesmen, when it comes to the Iranian people, what road do they want to choose? What approach for more than 50 years now the — the policy of American statesmen has been to confront the Iranian people. And our people, to a large extent, have become acclimated with this situation, and we have tried to work around it.

Today, we see new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States. My question is: Is such behavior rooted in a new approach; in other words, mutual respect, cooperation, and justice? Or this approach is a continuation in the confrontation with the Iranian people but in a new guise?

If this is the continuation of the old — process, well, the Iranian people need to defend its right, its — its interests as well. But if the approach changes, we will be facing a new situation. And the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one.

WILLIAMS: Specifically, what do you think is the reason for this new behavior on the part of United States? Why do you think, for the first time since 1991, there is no U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Persian Gulf. Why do you think the United States has come to the table to sit across from Iran in Geneva?

AHMADINEJAD: We welcomed that gesture, what happened over there. But the continuation and this expanding to cover other aspects of cooperation and relations can show a new approach on the part of the Americans.

WILLIAMS: Specifically, there is a group of nations in Geneva. And they have asked for an answer from you by Saturday. It has to do with the processing of nuclear materials. I note that you are smiling. I would like very much to know your answer.

AHMADINEJAD: To what?

WILLIAMS: What you will respond to the group of nations in Geneva. They have given you a deadline of Saturday.

Well, I didn’t get that impression from the Geneva meeting. They submitted a package and we responded by submitting our own package. They, again, submitted a work plan, and we submitted our own work plan. It’s very natural in the first steps we are going to negotiate over the common ground as they exist inside the two packages.

If the two parties succeed in agreeing over the common ground, that will help us to work on our differences as well to reach an agreement. The main question here is whether this approach is the continuation of the old approach or it — is it a totally new approach? If they are going to threaten the Iranian people and impose their will on us, the answer is very clear.

But if they want to cooperate, well, we need to sit down around a table to talk and to determine the areas for cooperation. We prefer this approach to be one of cooperation. But they are free to decide, decide as you please. Having said that, we prefer for us to proceed towards cooperation. You know full well that nobody can threaten the Iranian people and pose deadlines which they expect us to meet.

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