DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR, FORMER IRANIAN VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that we have to understand exactly the history of what has been happening in our relationships. Relationship between Iran and the West, between the Islamic revolution and Western policy. I think that in order to understand what is happening now in the country we have a look back at the history, we have to understand the long history of misunderstanding that the West has had for Iran, the long history of threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

GEORGE NEGUS: Do you believe like your president does, that Israel should be wiped off the map, his term not mine, that it does not have a right to exist. Do you think that this peace that you are talking about, that we all want so much, can happen while that sort of attitude prevails.

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I might not agree with that particular terminology but I believe yes, that the Zionist regime has occupied illegally lands belonging to the Palestinians, they have thrown Palestinians out of their land and out of their homeland, they have been living now for several generations in refugee camps. They have lost their homeland, they have lost their identity. If this is the result of what happened in World War Two in Europe, why should the Palestinians be suffering?

GEORGE NEGUS: True, true doctor but is that the solution though, a two state solution which would acknowledge Israel’s right to exist? Which your president apparently does not believe it to be the case, he does not believe they have a right to exist.

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I can speak on my own behalf and I think that the Palestinian people have spoken on their behalf.

GEORGE NEGUS: What I'm getting at is that many people believe that your President's statements about Israel not having a right to exist and being wiped off the map is also aggravating the situation.

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I think that international mechanisms like the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council are under serious pressure at the times they have to make serious decisions. They are incompetent and have not been able to deliver and I think that is the reason why the situation has been aggravated in the past.

GEORGE NEGUS: Doctor your country is reaching another turning point, you could say, another tipping point in a few days' time on the whole nuclear question. Why is it, do you think that the world does not trust Iran, when it comes to nuclear energy, where they don’t believe that your intentions are peaceful intentions and that it is in fact nuclear weapons that Iran is really seeking to build nuclear-energy?

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: On the contrary I think that many countries in the world and many nations trust Iran and they are very confident that this is a peaceful nuclear energy project going on.

GEORGE NEGUS: Could I ask you then, as a peace activist and an environmentalist, how do you feel about the fact that the Israelis said, only this week, an Israeli politician said that the power plant that you are inaugurating marks another leap in Iran's advance towards a nuclear bomb and that Iran cannot be trusted and Israel must prepare itself militarily. Does that mean that you should feel like Israel's next target?

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I don't think that they are realistic in what they say. They had been threatening the Islamic Republic of Iran since its inception in 1978 and this is an ongoing psychological warfare I think.

GEORGE NEGUS: Doctor you have been described or Iran has been described by George Bush as part of the Axis of evil which must be a pretty difficult thing to live with. . Do you think that it is possible that in that crisis situation that exists in the Middle East that Iran is in fact the next to Iraq, and it is part of a geopolitical plan to change a Middle East?

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I hope that the American Administration has learnt its lessons from what has happened in this region and from what has happened in Afghanistan, Iraq and now in Lebanon and in Palestine. I think that history - an important aspect of history is to learn lessons and gain experience.

GEORGE NEGUS: And you don't think they have, you don’t think the Americans have?

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I would hope that the intellectuals and the American Administration would be smart enough to understand and to realise that the equations in this part of the world cannot be dealt with by pressure, by military assault. Democracy cannot be installed through war.

GEORGE NEGUS: Doctor finally, the Americans for instance and the Israelis and a lot of other people in the West are absolutely convinced that Hezbollah in the current conflict with Israel are being armed by your country. Is this true?

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I think that Hezbollah has emerged as a very strong political and social factor.

GEORGE NEGUS: But who pays for their weapons doctor, where do they get their weapons from?

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKA: I'm not right now informed about the particular details of where they receive their arms. I know that they are a political party. They have ministers in the Lebanese government, so they are entitled.

GEORGE NEGUS: And to be fair, they also have rockets which they have been firing into northern Israel which people believe have been supplied by the Iranian government. You must know if that is true or false?

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: I'm not in a position to announce whether that's true or false or whether because I just don't have enough information about that.

GEORGE NEGUS: Doctor thank you for your time.

DR MASSOUMEH EBTEKAR: Thank you as well and good evening.

Producer / Researcher
CATHY CAREY

Editor
PETER TODD