Ahmadinejad: Iran world's most powerful country

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is the "world's most powerful country in the international arena."

Speaking on Thursday in a gathering of the "elites" of East Azerbaijan province in northwest Iran, Ahmadinejad said that current conditions — both domestically and internationally — are the best in conditions throughout the country's history, reported ILNA.

"The national solidarity that is prevalent today is unprecedented in the history of Iran," he said. "Many try to muddy the waters with false news, but the understanding of the nation is at its peak and all divisions have been eliminated."

Turning to the worldwide financial crisis, he said, "although the world economic situation has forced [certain] countries to retreat, but we are moving along the path of economic growth. They imposed sanctions against us and thought that they could prevent our progress, but [instead] we accelerated our progress."

"Although we have not yet bloomed fully, but we are moving forwards," Ahmadinejad said. He moved on to say, "Witness that on the international arena, Iran is the world's most powerful country, and they themselves admit this."

"Up until 15 years ago, the measure of countries' power was weapons and control over global resources, but today the gauge of power is the power of self-defense and influence on international relations," he continued.

Highlighting Iran's expanded relations with Latin American states, Ahmadinejad noted that the US government had invested hundreds of billions of dollars in South America. However, he recalled, "although Iran had not invested even one hundredth of this amount in these countries, but the Americans themselves say that they are worried about Iran's penetration in South America, because in Europe and even in the US itself, a state of suppression has been established and they do not allow their peoples to express their views."

With the continued foreign pressure against Iran, Ahmadinejad said that the enemy's threats and sanctions must be converted to opportunities.

"First of all, we must think about the development of the country and we must get involved in all matters of the world and not permit the implementation of plots against nations and our nation. Therefore, we must control the topics from their source."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122825§ionid=351020101.