Iran already has nuclear capabilities but is not interested in attacking Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview published Wednesday in the Egyptian media.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Egypt on Tuesday on the first trip by an Iranian head of state since the 1979 revolution, underlining the thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state last year. The president’s visit to Cairo is for an Islamic summit due to begin Wednesday.
The world must now relate to Iran as an atomic power, Ahmadinejad told Al-Ahram, as it is “already a nuclear state.” He said that Tehran does not seek a military confrontation with Israel, and did not threaten to strike the “Zionist entity.” In fact, Al-Ahram quoted him as saying, all of Iran’s military capabilities are “defensive”.
Regarding Egypt, he said that he saw a bright future and an opportunity for increased economic contacts between their countries.
Commenting on the French intervention in Mali, he called the French “colonialists,” who are only looking after “their own interests, not the people.”