Iran's president told CNN on Saturday his country is absolutely "determined" to pursue a nuclear energy program and will "use every resource" it has to battle the United States and European nations trying to prevent it.
"We are determined. Certainly we are determined. Why should other people have it and sell it to us?" said Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an exclusive interview -- his first since the hard-line conservative won the presidential election.
Ahmadinejad criticized "nuclear apartheid" and suggested his nation may consider taking action to hike oil prices in order to scare off further action from the United States and parts of Europe.
Asked about remarks by some Iranian officials that Iran may provoke a rise in oil prices, he responded, "I think any intelligent, healthy, smart human being should use every resource in order to maintain his or her freedom and independence."
He added, "I doubt that the leaders of the United States and Europe are that far removed from reality." He said his nation has the "legal right" to pursue a nuclear energy program, and "I think they're smarter than denying us this legal right. It is natural, of course, they will use whatever they have in their hand, which is the U.N. Security Council, and our nation has the means to defend and obtain its own rights."
