If the West wants to refer Irans nuclear file to the Security Council, we wont have any problem. It just means that oil prices will reach 150 dollars, which will bring good luck for the government of [Iranian President Mahmoud”> Ahmadinejad, Ali Larijani, secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council, said.
Speaking to students at Tehrans Amir Kabir Industrial University, the former Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General brushed off threats of a Security Council referral or a U.S.-led war on Iran.
War is not an option on the table. They [Western governments”> are trying to compel us to commit suicide by making us afraid of war. America will not move itself close to the knife-edge, he said.
America does not have the capacity to fight on two fronts, Larijani said, referring to U.S. troops being bogged down in Iraq.
If the Shiites [in Iraq”> are making logical moves it is with the support of Iran. The U.S. knows this, but does not want to accept that Iran is the centre of order in the region, he said.
Larijani defended remarks last week by the Iranian president, who had called for the destruction of Israel. The president is convinced that the Zionist regime is a dictatorship and we do not consider it legitimate.
The senior official was clearly embarrassed when a student, cheered by his colleagues, asked him, What good does national pride do, when we have no daily bread to live on?
Larijani dismissed the students comment as irrelevant, a response that did not go down well with the majority of the young people in the audience.
Larijani said Western governments wanted Iran only to produce ketchup, not nuclear technology.
We will negotiate with any country which recognises Irans right to obtain nuclear technology, but if they want to negotiate on selling nuclear energy, they better not come forward, Larijani said.
Addressing Europe and the United States, Larijani said, We know your psychological propaganda very well. With these actions we become more resolute to start [uranium”> enrichment sooner.
Larijani claimed that there was no basis to accuse Iran of carrying out its nuclear work in secret. As soon as Iran was at the doorsteps of obtaining nuclear energy, they started a racket saying that we had hidden everything. However, the [International Atomic Energy”> Agency had prior knowledge of the UCF plant, Larijani said, referring to the Irans Uranium Conversion Facility in the central city of Isfahan.
Mirroring a similar posture by the Iranian president earlier in the week, Larijani made no comment on Irans underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and the heavy water reactor at Arak, both of which were never declared to the IAEA and had gone undetected until an Iranian opposition group blew the whistle.
Larijani said that the Central Intelligence Agency had estimated in a report that Iran was 10 years from acquiring nuclear capabilities.
So why do they punish us now? he asked.
He said that he had no doubts that Iran would acquire nuclear capabilities, adding that Tehran did not envisage negotiations with the West as the only solution to resolve the standoff.
