Iran to defend itself if attacked : Ahmadinejad

IANS/RIA Novosti) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the country would defend itself if Israel were to attack it.

“Any nation has the right and will indeed defend herself,” Ahmadinejad said speaking through a translator in a wide-ranging interview that aired Monday on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.”

“Why should the world be managed in such a way that an individual can allow himself to threaten a rich and deeply rooted historical, ancient country such as Iran?,” he said.

“A great country, such as Iran, based on an excuse of his own fabrication. … Another country can say, ‘I am guessing that country B is doing activity X, therefore I will attack that country’ … can this be … a successful formula for the management of the world?,” Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian president was apparently referring to the country’s nuclear programme that the West led by the US fears is aimed at building nuclear weapons, which Iran fiercely denies.