H.E. Mr. Hossein Panahiazar:

I am not an expert in this area, but I think that Israel would, if it could, have acted as it did in the case of Iraq and Syria, at the beginning or many years ago. Israel did not warn Iraq and Syria that it was going to attack them. Therefore, it does not need to warn other countries if it intends attacking. Israel knew the case of Iran was different and a strike was not possible then. However, if we are put in a position where we must defend ourselves, we know how to defend ourselves. A war has been imposed on us for eight years, but we have resisted against war. If one looks at the history of Iran over the past 200 years, there has been no case of Iran starting or initiating a war against a neighbour. We do not have any border conflict with our neighbours and we have not initiated any war. Even our revolution, if compared with other movements in the region, was the most peaceful. The revolution was conducted peacefully, with as few casualties as possible.

Iranians, as Senator Norris and others know, are more concerned about culture, civilisation and human beings as a whole rather than other matters. For example, if one looks at terrorist attacks that have taken place, such as the 11 September attack and others, one will not find even one Iranian national involved. None. In the past 1,000 years of civilization we have looked for peaceful solutions for all problems. With regard to the nuclear issue, we are optimistic the situation will improve without violence. Also, we will work with Europe and other countries to help improve the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Bahrain and all countries with problems.

As members know, Iran has been chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, NAM, for three years. The most recent summit of this group was held in Tehran just a month ago and Iran will remain the chair of the movement, which has more than 120 members, for the coming three years. Ireland will hold the Presidency of the European Union for the first six months of next year offering an area of potential co-operation to help bring about improvements in our region.

Senator Norris mentioned his knowledge of Islam and our beliefs. I recall a letter from one of the Islamic leaders to his representative when he was sending him as governor to Egypt one time. He told him when he was going there that the people could be seen as being in two groups. Some of them would have the same religion, but the others were sharing human beings. Therefore, he could either govern the Muslims there or govern them as human beings, because people are all the same and share the same common areas. We believe that all people around the world share a common essence of being human and that this is the most important common ground on which we should base other relations.