By DPA,
Tehran : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday said in a speech that US President George W. Bush’s era was over and he could no longer harm Iran.
“Your era is over, and thank God you will no longer be able to even harm one centimetre of Iranian land,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Shahre-Kord, western Iran.
Bush said in Tuesday’s European Union (EU)-US summit in Brdo, Slovenia, that the world should get tougher with Iran if the Islamic republic refused to suspend uranium enrichment, and he expressed understanding for talk in Israel about possible military action.
“If someone just dared to harm even a small corner of Iran, then the youth of this nation would cut (off) their hands, wipe the smile off their faces and make them regret their action,” Ahmadinejad said in the speech carried by Khabar news network.
In a joint statement issued at the EU-US summit, both sides agreed to consider additional sanctions against Iranian banks so they “cannot abuse the international banking system to support proliferation and terrorism”.
Ahmadinejad once again reiterated that Western threats and sanctions would not intimidate Iran and that the county would decisively continue its nuclear programmes.
“No power can stop Iran’s progress, and the Iranian nation will eventually defuse all relevant conspiracies,” the Iranian president said.
Although trying to act impartial in the forthcoming US presidential election, Iran is in favour of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with whom Tehran hopes to have at least a critical dialogue and end almost three decades of diplomatic estrangement.
One of Obama’s main plus points is his second name Hussein which is also the name of the third Shia imam who is highly regarded in Shia Iran.
Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani reacted to Bush’s remarks and said charges without documentation to prove them were baseless.
“We should not listen to worthless remarks by political hedgehogs. Any charges against Iran’s nuclear programmes are baseless unless they have documents to prove them,” Larijani told Fars news agency Wednesday, implying Bush looked more dangerous than he was.