IRAN: Clinton’s ‘obliterate’ remark draws U.N. attention

Iran is a leading nation in rejecting and opposing all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons.... Moreover, I wish to reiterate my government’s position that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention to attack any other nations. Nonetheless ... Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself.

To date the United States has not ever come up with any single reliable evidence that would corroborate its claims against Iran -- simply because there are not any such evidences and because these allegations are totally unfounded. Iran has, time and again, condemned all acts of violence and terrorism in Iraq. It has strongly condemned the attacks on the Green Zone where the Iraqi government’s offices and diplomatic missions are located, as it has condemned the attacks on residential areas in Iraq, including those in Sadr City and Basra. Iran has also unambiguously supported the Iraqi government’s efforts against outlaw gangs in the country. Iran has itself been subject to terrorism and suffered from terrorist acts committed in and originated from Iraq, due to the tacit and explicit support extended by the U.S. governments to certain terrorist groups stationed and operating in Iraq... Iran’s president has been the highest-ranking official from the region who has visited Iraq to promote the friendly and brotherly relations that so happily exist between our two countries. We have already implemented many short-term and long-term programs aimed at promoting economic cooperation between the two countries in various areas such as development, energy, education, health, industry, transportation, investment, trade, tourism, financing, and many other areas, and are actively in the process of implementing more such projects. Iran has also pledged $10 million dollars to Iraq’s Reconstruction Fund, while a line of credit of $1 billion has also been allocated to cover the implementation of economic plans. Iran’s support to the Iraqi political process and its efforts to assist Iraqis in their quest for peace, national harmony and reconstruction has been unabated and will remain unreserved.... It is not the first time that the U.S. government maliciously insists on demonizing Iran for Iraq’s problems through a futile effort to obfuscate the real sources of the instability in Iraq — that is the continuation of foreign occupation and certain wrong policies and practices on the part of the occupying forces. Instead of scapegoating others for U.S.’s policy failures in Iraq, the U.S. government should address its own wrong policies and practices in the country in an honest and sincere manner, and desist from deceiving its own public opinion and that of the international community.