Bush won't attack Iran in near future, Ahmadinejad says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that U.S. President George W. Bush's era "has come to an end" and he has failed in his goals to attack Iran and stop its nuclear program.



Ahmadinejad, addressing thousands of people in this central Iranian city, also described the U.S. president as "wicked."



"This wicked man desires to harm the Iranian nation. (Bush) made plans, moved into Afghanistan and then Iraq, and announced that Iran was the third target," he said.



"I tell him (Bush) ... your era has come to an end. With the grace of God, you won't be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran," he said.



Bush on Wednesday repeated his stance that no options were ruled out in trying to get Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions. At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said "my first choice is to solve this diplomatically, but all options are on the table."



Bush, who has just seven months left in office before stepping down as president, attended his final U.S.-European Union summit of his presidency Tuesday. He said he won European promises to tighten pressure on Tehran with U.N. sanctions and possibly other new penalties.



Ahmadinejad said pressures and sanctions won't succeed in forcing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program.



"In the past two-three years, they employed all their might, resorted to propaganda ... and sanctions. If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong ... With God's help, today we have achieved victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing," he said, the AP reports.



The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear bomb. Iran has rejected the charges saying its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity not a weapon.



The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for bomb.



Iran has not only continued enriching uranium but has expanded its uranium enrichment program, installing more centrifuges used to enrich uranium.