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

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Will's feat- and will anything derail this train?

‘This is a great and mighty country’
This is not helpful in resolving anything. But Mr. Jalili and Mr. Solana, both those gentlemen have expressed their pleasure with — how pleased they are, in other words, with the outcome of the meeting. We feel that the continuation of the negotiations have to concentrate on common ground. And that can help different countries to come together.

WILLIAMS: Perhaps I should be more specific. They are asking for your response by Saturday, to the question, “are you willing to suspend uranium enrichment?” And if doing that, would welcome you into wider world. Is that something Iran is willing to do?

AHMADINEJAD: Well, the world — the doors rather of the larger world are not closed to us. This is a great and mighty country, a great nation with a great economy, a rich culture, thousands of years of history and civilization. And we have very good economic and cultural relations with countries around the world. It would be very good for you to walk on the streets here in Tehran, in other cities for that matter, and gain a better appreciation of life in this part of the world.

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For the continuation our lives and for progress, we do not need the services, if I can use the word, of a few countries. I believe that for agreements, for cooperation, for dialogue, if you pose pre-conditions, that would be an effort to continue with disagreement or lack of cooperation. We believe that if we accentuate common ground, we can reach an agreement in a much easier way.

Today, you cannot even issue ultimatums to a country which has a few million people living in it, much less for Iran. And also every action needs a sound legal basis. And in that meeting, having said that, what you’re saying here was not put on the table. Some people are saying that the subject of the meeting was not that at all. This is not my impression from the Geneva meeting. I believe that a step forward was taken. And such steps must continue, again, new steps need to be taken. The presence of the American representative in that meeting was good, I have to say. And, of course, in a sound, logical environment, we need to continue with these efforts.

WILLIAMS: Respectfully, to your point about the robust Iranian economy. Estimates are of 20-percent inflation, workers strikes for back-wages. And a lot of people have argued it is because of the isolation, because of the sanctions you mentioned earlier.

AHMADINEJAD: You shouldn’t worry needlessly about the Iranian people. The Iranian people are very able to resolve their issues themselves.

WILLIAMS: I’m curious than Sir, in this nation, known for its petroleum reserves, beneath our feet, why are there two hour lines for gasoline? Why is there gasoline rationing? What is that a result of?

AHMADINEJAD: Well, these are certain issues that are domestic matters. And if there is need, we can sit down in another venue and talk about these. It would be similar to saying to — to asking rather why 1.2 percent of the American population are inside prisons. More than three million people. Again, it would be like asking why Katrina survivors in the U.S. still are homeless or 40 million people living on the streets homeless without health cover. These are domestic issues that pertain to Americans obviously.

And the people of Iran are as you see around you. If a person or party sincerely based on law takes a step forward, the Iranian nation will welcome that. But if a party uses the language of threats or impose his will or try to impose his will on us, the response by the Iranian people will be historic.

WILLIAMS: So, one more attempt. While you may not recognize the coming Saturday deadline for your answer — would you be willing to suspend nuclear enrichment if it meant a more prosperous Iran, and a more peaceful world going forward?

AHMADINEJAD: Today, Iran is prosperous. It’s happy. And every day we become more prosperous compared to the previous day. Why do certain people think that their lifestyles are the best lifestyles in the world? People, nations have their own lifestyles. I think that you should look at the situation through the interests of the U.S. The question is whether American statesmen want to continue with their policies of the past 50 years. Have they at all benefited from such policies?

I think that the most pessimistic analysts inside the U.S. would say that they have lost out. And, of course, optimists would say that we have — the — these policies on the part of the U.S. have been very detrimental. I believe that in the life of man, there are things that are more important than material welfare and prosperity. In other words, we are talking about the dignity of human beings.

WILLIAMS: So you don’t deny there has been a substantial shift in U.S. position toward Iran. And one more time Sir, the question, would you be willing to meet that with a substantial shift of your own in attitudes, policies, toward the United States?

AHMADINEJAD: We have shown this. We participated in the meeting. We welcomed the initiative. I think that if this process is continued by the American government in the not-so-distant future, the situation will change. This means for the Americans to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation, recognize the rule of law, and also recognize a fair and just situation which needs to prevail. These are not difficult demands. I believe that American politicians, statesmen, should not be very much — affected by the prevailing media environment.

If they want to change their policy towards Iran, well, they have to announce that and take actual steps towards that. I think that this benefits the American government, and it serves the interests of all of us. We — we’ll welcome such an effort.

CONTINUED : ‘We think that the market should be free’

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