Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - Quotes

Quotes

• When the shah gave us freedoms, we drove him out of the country. We won't make that mistake ourselves.
• Those in control of podiums, influence and media should avoid stirring schisms ...... and take steps towards the creation of unity.
• A large group of Iranians have doubts about last month's (June) disputed presidential election ... something should be done about the situation., on the 2009 presidential election.
• If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality. Of course, you can see that the Americans have kept their eyes peeled and they are carefully looking for even the slightest hint that technological advances are being made by an independent Islamic country. If an independent Islamic country is thinking about acquiring other kinds of weaponry, then they will do their utmost to prevent it from acquiring them. Well, that is something that almost the entire world is discussing right now. (December 2001)
• If the Americans attack Iran, the world will change. …They will not dare to make such a mistake (2004)
• We are not bothering anyone, but we have acquired nuclear expertise and we want to benefit from it to improve our life.
• You need diplomacy and not slogans. This is the place for wisdom, the place for seeking windows that will take you to the objective. (2005)
• We want all the Palestinians back in their homeland, and then there can be a fair referendum for people to choose the form of state they want. Whoever gets the majority can rule. (2005)
• There is no doubt that America is a superpower of the world and we cannot ignore them. I think that Americans should gradually begin to adopt positive behavior rather than doing evil. They should not expect an immediate reaction in return for their positive measures. It will take time.
• I believe the main solution is to gain the trust of Europe and America and to remove their concerns over the peaceful nature of our nuclear industry and to assure them that there will never be a diversion to military use.
• Europe resolved a great problem – the problem of the Zionist danger. The Zionists, who constituted a strong political party in Europe, caused much disorder there. Since they had a lot of property and controlled an empire of propaganda, they made the European governments helpless. What Hitler and the German Nazis did to the Jews of Europe at that time was partly due to these circumstances with the Jews. They wanted to expel the Zionists from Europe because they always were a pain in the neck for the governments there. This is how this calamity fell upon the Muslims, especially the Palestinians, and you all know this history, more or less.The first goal was to save Europe from the evil of Zionism, and in this, they have been relatively successful.
• We have no problems with Jews and highly respect Judaism as a holy religion.
• Look, as long as we can enrich uranium and master the fuel cycle, we don’t need anything else. Our neighbors will be able to draw the proper conclusions.