IRAN - Apr 24 - President Dismisses Fears Of Mideast Crisis.

Pres Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, defiantly dismisses talk of crisis in the Middle East as the Apr 28 deadline approaches for Tehran to meet a UN Security Council demand that it suspend its controversial nuclear programme. Ahmadi-Nejad said he thought the council would neither agree sanctions nor authorise military strikes against Iran, which would continue its nuclear programme supported "from the remotest villages to the capital". In a relaxed and confident performance at a press conference broadcast live on Iranian and many Arab TV stations, the president defended Iran's position in terms of international law and the NPT, while hinting Tehran might reconsider its NPT membership if denied its "rights". His words were clearly directed towards the Arab and Islamic world rather than the US and Europe, as he criticised Israel as "a fake regime", advised Europeans to give up anti-semitism so Jews in Israel could "return" to Europe, and opposed "US and British policies for running the world". Iranian officials have been active in recent weeks in a charm offensive to Arab countries in the Gulf. And while a Kremlin source on Apr 24 told three Russian news agencies that Moscow was "categorically opposed" to Iran gaining the knowledge that could allow it to develop nuclear weapons, Iran's leaders have been encouraged by Moscow's public stance that it would not support sanctions without proof Iran's programme was not civil. "There is no inflammation in the region", Ahmadi-Nejad said on Apr 24. "Tension exists among those who create a problem for themselves...and then don't know how to solve it. Why do you stand against Iran...and then shout about a crisis?" He also said Iran had no need for talks with the US over Iraq now a government was being formed in Baghdad, but it was unclear whether this reversed Iran's previous openness to such talks or was verbal jousting with US officials, who have increasingly dismissed the possibility as unlikely. But not all prominent Iranians share Ahmadi-Nejad's calm as international pressure grows and the UN deadline looms. Responding to reports the US is considering military strikes, Sherin Ebadi, human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel peace prize winner, was reported on Apr 24 by IRNA to have said in Paris that Iranians "would sacrifice ourselves to the last drop of our blood...if the foot of one American soldier stepped into our country". Mohsen Rezaei, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and a prominent fundamentalist, argued on the Baztab website against "withdrawal" over the nuclear issue as this would invite western pressure over "terrorism, human rights, democracy and weapons of mass destruction". But Hassan Rowhani, Iran's former top security official, warned in remarks reported on Iranian news agencies, that while Iran could not give up its "rights", officials should resist a "mentality Iran will be deceived whenever it sits at the negotiating table". Rowhani, who led Iran's two-year negotiations with the EU, said he did not expect a favourable report later this week from Mohammad ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, the UN watchdog monitoring Iran. But at the public eye of the storm, Ahmadi-Nejad appears increasingly confident of his own and Iran's position. "As time passes, he's going to feel more comfortable and more in command", said Nasser Hadian, politics professor at Tehran university.