Not so scared: Iran

Defiant Iranian president mocks Bush

By Paul Hughes

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday mocked President Bush and said Iran's nuclear program was a source of inspiration for other nations.

His typically outspoken remarks came after Bush said the Iranian president was out of step with the rest of the world and U.N. diplomats said a draft resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran for its atomic work should be approved on Friday.

Addressing a rally in western Iran, Ahmadinejad urged Bush to "step out of your glass palace and go to your people to see how isolated you are, not only across the world but also in your own country."

"Mr. Bush can travel to one of the American states, inviting the people to a stadium to see how the people would treat him," the ISNA students news agency quoted him as saying.

"I am sure that the American people would treat Mr. Bush as the Indonesian people treated him," he said referring to protests that greeted Bush on a visit to Indonesia last month.

Ahmadinejad said Western efforts to deflect Iran from its goal of perfecting nuclear technology were fruitless.

"Some so-called superpowers have gathered together and they think that they can control the whole world. I'm telling them: Open your eyes, today, the world no longer thinks your decisions have any value. "By God's grace, the enemies have not been able to do anything (against Iran) as yet and they will not be able to do anything in the future too," he said.

Iran says its nuclear program will only be used for peaceful aims, such as electricity generation, and not to make bombs as United States and its European allies fear.

"BUILD A BRIDGE"

In a separate speech on Thursday Ahmadinejad reiterated a prediction that Iran would announce in February it had become a full member of the nuclear energy club during celebrations to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying Western efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear plans were motivated by fear that others would follow Tehran's example.

"Iran's independence, prosperity and progress will soon become an example for other nations," he said.

"The bullying powers are also afraid that the Iranian nation's progress will raise the expectations of other nations, pushing them to stand up to these powers," he added.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said on Wednesday he expected the U.N. Security Council to vote this week on a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for failing to heed calls it halt sensitive nuclear fuel production work.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki struck a more conciliatory tone in Tehran, stressing that Iran wanted to return to negotiations over its nuclear program.

"We believe it is possible to build a bridge between the two sides such that Iran can have its rights (to nuclear energy) and any question or ambiguity (about its program) can be removed," he said.

"We have to repeat that the language of threats has lost its usefulness and negotiation is the best way to find a possible solution," he told a joint news conference with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Kursheed Mehmood Kasuri.

Original article posted here.