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Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on August 22, 2010:
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: We need twenty similar nuclear plants in Iran. We hope that the opening of the Bushehr nuclear plant will lay the ground for increasing cooperation with Russia, and with the other countries capable of building reactors and nuclear plants.
Interviewer: Will the activation of this plant through cooperation with Russia, which supplies you with nuclear fuel, serve as an opportunity to expand the measure to the other plants? I'm referring to the supply of nuclear fuel from abroad.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: This is a possibility. Ultimately, however, there is a difference between those who have and those who buy. Nuclear fuel can be either produced or purchased, but it has been our experience that obtaining fuel from abroad is subject to political considerations. We must make sure that our nuclear plants will continue to operate. Today, Europe and the US prevent the supply of benzene to Iran. This is regular fuel, not nuclear fuel. To be honest, we don't trust them, but our relations with Russia are good.
Interviewer: Are you sure that Russia will honor its obligation to continue the operation of this reactor?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: We hope so. Logically speaking, countries that signed contracts with us should honor them. We expect Russia to do so. We have additional plants under research or establishment, which means that we need more nuclear fuel.
Interviewer: Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton has blatantly incited Israel to attack the Bushehr reactor. A few days ago, he said that Tel Aviv had only eight days to strike the Bushehr nuclear plant. Do you expect Israel to do so?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I think that Mr. Bolton is addicted to video war games. He sits all alone, imagining war games, and playing by himself. We think that such an attack is out of the question. The Israeli entity is too tiny to dare to confront Iran militarily.
[...]
From where would [the US] launch its attack against Iran? From within the region? That's absolutely impossible. The conditions do not permit this. Do you [really] think that they would attack from the US?
Interviewer: They did this when they attacked Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Don't you think that things are completely different in this case? Don't you think that Iran is different from Afghanistan and Iraq? The situation of the US is completely different than it was a decade ago.
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Do you really think that an army that has been defeated by a small army and now wants to withdraw would want to enter a war against the large and well-trained Iranian army? I don't think so. The US cannot start a war against Iran. More importantly, why would it? There are no logical reasons for this. Experience has shown that it is much better to be Iran's friend than its foe. No one has yet to benefit from being an enemy of Iran. Look what happened to Saddam and his regime. Saddam said that he wanted to conquer Iran within three days, but where is he now? Nevertheless, we opposed the occupation of Iraq from the beginning.