US must change strategy towards Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the United States must change its strategy towards Iran and the Middle East.

In a meeting with US media owners and editors in New York on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said Washington should stop meddling in the Middle East and Iran’s internal affairs.

Ahmadinejad also said the United States must value the interests of American citizens and respect the interests of other nations as well, emphasizing that US national interests lie in better relations with Iran and Middle East countries.

On Iran’s nuclear energy program, he said Tehran has always been ready to negotiate.

Answering a question about the recently-renewed direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the Iranian president said, “When Palestinians or their representatives reach an agreement in a referendum, we are committed to support the decision.”

In his speech at the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit earlier in the day, Ahmadinejad called on world powers to abandon their undemocratic decisions, saying that a new order is needed for a world where the rights of all people are preserved.

He stressed that the “restoration of justice” in the world requires “honest management,” echoing his earlier calls on the UN to allow nations to play a more active role in global affairs.

The Iranian chief executive added, “The first decade of the millennium was named the decade of peace by the General Assembly, but unfortunately, it was full of war, occupation, massacre and poverty.”

He further called for the second decade of the millennium to be named “’The Joint Management of World Affairs by the UN.”