This is the man invited to speak at Columbia University and a National Press Club luncheon, in an intervew broadcast on Iranian TV on August 28, 2007.

(Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: We declare that since our [nuclear] project is for peaceful purposes, we are prepared to provide – under IAEA supervision – technical and engineering services to the other IAEA members. We can guide them, so that other too can use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
[…]
Journalist: What would you say to people who are concerned that a possible attack [against Iran] would be very bad? Thank you.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: In my opinion, the premise of this analysis is wrong. In Iran, there are hardly any such people. Even if there are any such people, they are so few that they drown in the sea of Iranian people. If you want to see how happy the Iranians are, take a look at Iran’s streets, places of entertainment, and centers of tourism. The Iranian people is not worried about such things at all. The reason is clear: The Iranian people relies upon its faith, its unity, its national capabilities, and its culture, and therefore, it is invincible.
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I state categorically that there is no chance that America will make such a decision, and that even if it does, it will be incapable of carrying it out. The reasons are so clear that they don’t need to be mentioned.
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Journalist: You said that Iran does not anticipate a military attack, but Mr. Sarkozy, the president of France, indicated yesterday that if Iran continues its nuclear project, there is a possibility of a military attack. What do you think about this?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: According to our assessment, because he is new, he is trying to position himself in the world, but he hasn’t yet tested the waters. In other words, he may not be aware of the significance of what he said. Besides, in our opinion, he said this for domestic consumption. Politically, this is too trivial for us to even think about.
[….]
A government functions like a football team. It is team work. The president is the coach of the team. No player who enters the field can say he must remain there the entire 90 minutes. The coach examines the game, and changes the formation. This is because the team has to win. Pay attention. The group has to achieve several targets. The coach sees this, and at that moment, he can change the formation and even the tactics, but the goal and the path remain the same. He may change the tactics and the formation, and may take out some of the players from the field, and bring on new ones instead.
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In principle, the Zionists lack any religion. They are lying when they say that they are Jews. They have no religion. They are against religion, because religion means friendship, brotherhood, peace, and justice. Religion means to respect the divine prophets. Note this. Religion means to respect others. It means friendship between peoples. Note that wherever the Zionists are, there is war, and wherever there is war, they are the ones behind it. As a matter of fact, if you examine American society, you will see that they oppress the Americans. They oppress the Europeans, even though they are a minority. They infiltrated in an organized manner… No more than 10,000 of them are part of the organization, and the rest just follow them. But they have become a powerful underground political party, which has the money and the media at its disposal. They do not want friendship and peace between peoples. They do not want there to be friendship between the Swedish government and other countries. This way they get rid of their complexes about the Prophet of Islam and all other prophets. As you know, an affront to the Prophet of Islam means an affront to all the divine prophets, because the Prophet of Islam is the Seal of the Prophets.
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Therefore, because the Zionists have no religion, I strongly suspect that they are behind [the Swedish cartoon], and that they want to embarrass the Europeans, and make the European governments face a challenge. They want to instigate a war, because war is the essence of their existence. If the world is calm, the people of Europe the Germans… If the world is calm, they will eradicate the Zionists. I’m convinced of this. Do you know how many messages I get from Germans every day? They have an aversion to the Zionists. The Zionists humiliated the German people very much. But the Zionists are in control. The moment the world is calm and people can express their views, you will see that they will drive them out of Europe. The people of Europe themselves will drive them out. The [Zionists] do not want such a thing to happen, and that’s why they instigate new turmoil every day.
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When Mr. Putin met me in Bishkek, he told me that they would complete the reactor in Bushehr as planned. In opinion, Mr. Putin and the Russian government are standing by these statements, and they will complete the reactor. We are not worried about this.