TEHRAN – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that Iran will stand beside any country in the region that is threatened.

“Iran will stand on the side of any country in the region which comes under pressure or is threatened,” Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Arabic satellite television network Al Jazeera aired on Sunday.
He also said he doesn’t think the threats by the United States and Israel to attack Iran are “serious”.
“Israel does not have the courage to do it… I do not think the threat is serious.”
Ahmadinejad also stated that Israel is “too weak” to attack the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian president said that any military adventure by the Zionist regime targeting Iran would receive a “crushing” response that would make Israel regret the decision.
He went on to say that Persian Gulf states are “too smart” to allow the U.S. to use bases on their territory for a strike on Iran.
“We regard the Persian Gulf countries as brothers and friends. They are smarter than that.”
In the interview, the president also said he does not fear an attack by the U.S. because it could not even defeat a small army in Iraq.
“There are no logical reasons for the United States to carry out such an act,” President Ahmadinejad told Al Jazeera.
“Do you believe an army that has been defeated by a small army in Iraq can enter into a war with a large and well trained army like the Iranian army?” he asked, referring to the insurgents in Iraq.
Iran will only “look to the views of wise people” in the U.S. and not to those whose minds are obsessed with “hatred and animosity”, the president said when asked about former U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton’s remarks, which had apparently encouraged Israel to attack the Bushehr plant before its start-up.
Washington has no real motive to attack Iran and would not benefit from hostilities, he added.
“The friendship of Iran is much better than its hostility,” he said.
He went on to say that Iran is working to produce nuclear fuel independently “because receiving it from an outside source is conditioned on diplomatic criteria.”
To prevent Iran from using the Bushehr reactor to produce plutonium, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and Russia, which built the power plant, are making sure Iran returns the fuel rods it receives after they are spent.
“There is a difference between those who produce and those who buy. We must make sure our nuclear power plant continues to operate. We do not trust the West, despite our good relations with Russia,” Ahmadinejad said.
“We need 20 power plants like the one in Bushehr,” he added.