I do not know anybody that is threatening Iran. It is a safe country.

In many ways, the media today makes dictatorship impossible. But it also makes democracy intolerable.

I don't think for example that the Indians look at [what is right and what is wrong] that way [the Palestinians do]. There are a billion, 200 million people in that part of the world. Why? They suffer from terror. People that do not suffer from it don't understand what I'm talking about, you know?

When you have two alternatives, the first thing you have to do is to look for the third that you didn't think about, that doesn't exist.

I joined the army as a private. I was offered a rank at that time, but I refused. I preferred to remain a private. First of all, I wasn't taken by ranks, and before I knew it, they put me in the most sensitive positions anyway.

I worked with a group of people who argued day and night - professors, officials, the Minister of Finance - but there were decisions that I had to make.

In every war, there are always elements of blindness.