Christiane Amanpour
Interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on CNN and Iran Press TV by Christiane Amanpour
June 14, 2009
CHRISTIANE: You said that you are the president of all Iranians no matter who they voted for. I’d like to ask you, what is the situation with your challenger Mr. Mir Houssein Mousavi and will you guarantee his safety, and why have opposition reform individuals, officials been arrested?
AHMADINEJAD: The situation in the country is a very good condition, Iran is the most stable country in the world and there is the rule of law in this country. All the people are equal before the law. The election have witnessed people’s massive turnout, as I said, even in a soccer match the people may become excited and that may lead to a confrontation between them and the police force. This is something natural that a person coming out of a stadium and may violate the traffic regulations, he will be fined by the police no matter who he is, an ordinary person or even a minister. So these are not problems, these have not caused any problems for the people of Iran and 40 million people participated in the elections. And these 40 million people will safeguard the elections based on the Iranian culture. There is no partisanship on the basis of the western concept in fact the people are friends with each other and they are going to cast their votes in favor of any candidate they like. And of course such a voting process will not lead to any hostility among the people. And you go to the street and you see people are friends with each other and in Iran no one asks the other to whom are you going to vote for? The situation is very good, and Iran is on the threshold of making considerable progress. And definitely in the next four years the status of Iran in the world will be further promoted. We are going to witness Iran’s economic, scientific, and cultural progress taking place. Making considerable progress Iran will turn into a major economic power in the world, of course it is already a political power as well.
CA: I may have missed the translation, I was asking whether you were going to guarantee their safety…no just the first question.
AH: What is your first question?
CA: Last night you said you were the president of all Iranians…
AH: Yes yes I did respond to your question. I said that people come out of a stadium, one person may be angry and he may pass the traffic light violating the traffic regulations and he will be fined by the police. He is also a member of the Iranian nation of course he has been fined for just violating the traffic rules. This has nothing to do with your question, I’m the president of all Iranians as I have been in the past four years. All people are respected and all people are equal before the law. And I like all the people, all members of this nation. Of course I’m not happy with a person violating the traffic rules.
http://www.mofopolitics.com/2009/06/14/video-christiane-amanpour-vs-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-on-legitimacy-of-victory/
