TEHRAN, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday Israel is too weak to stand up to Iran.
The Jerusalem Post reported Ahmadinejad, in an interview with al-Jazeera, as saying, "Israel doesn't have the courage to do it" -- confront Iran over its newly active nuclear reactor -- "and I do not think its threat is serious." He also said, "America is not interested in sparking a military confrontation with Iran."
Ahmadinejad's comments came one day after the Islamic Republic began fueling its nuclear reactor at Bushehr, the Post said.
Iran insists its nuclear facilities are for peaceful purposes, but there has been some speculation that Israel would attack them before Iran could use the uranium to build a nuclear weapon.
John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, caused a stir when he said Israel had only days to strike the Bushehr nuclear reactor before it began the fueling process, the Post said, raising the specter of Israel or the United States destroying the facilities.
Ahmadinejad predicted in his interview that Arab states in the Persian Gulf would not allow U.S. bases in the region to be used to launch an attack against Iran.
