TEHRAN -- Senior presidential advisor Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi expressed doubts on Sunday over statements attributed to Libyan leader who had compared Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West with that of Saddam Hussein’s regime, saying such statements against Iran by Libya are ‘unlikely’.

“Generally, adopting such position by Libyan officials is unlikely,” Samareh Hashemi told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
According to Reuters, Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi said on Tuesday that Iran risks going the same way as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in its confrontation with the West and is too weak to meet the challenges it faces alone.
“What Iran is doing is pure vanity… If a decision is taken against Iran, it will suffer the same fate as Iraq… Iran is no stronger than Iraq and will be unable to resist.” Reuters quoted Qadhafi as saying.
Samareh Hashemi also played down a letter to Turkey by the Zionist regime protesting a planned visit to Istanbul by Iranian president, saying it ‘is of no value’.
The Israeli officials have forwarded a protest letter to Turkey and called Ahmadinejad’s trip to Turkey an ‘unfortunate’ event.
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad plans to visit Turkey on August 14 at the invitation of the Turkish government.
Hashemi pointed to the Algerian official’s recent visit to Iran and said, “There are close ties between Iran and Algeria.