Ahmadinejad open to two-state solution

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a televised interview he would accept a two-state solution in the Middle East if the Palestinian people voted to approve a peace agreement with Israel.

“Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that. We think that is the right of the Palestinian people, however we fully expect other states to do so as well,” Ahmadinejad said.

{mosads}The Iranian president said he will soon unveil a new package of proposals for talks on his country’s nuclear program, but he refused to commit to negotiations without “preconditions.”

“No, no,” Ahmadinejad said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” program when asked if he was ready to talk to the United States without precondition, rejecting President Obama’s call for such talks.

After three decades of severed diplomatic ties, the Obama administration has called for dialogue with Tehran over its controversial nuclear drive, which Western powers fear is meant to build nuclear bombs.

Obama sent an unprecedented video appeal last month to Iranians for their New Year holiday, hoping to turn a new page in relations.

But Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told lawmakers last week that the United States was preparing for “very tough sanctions” against Iran if the new US approach to Tehran failed. While the Obama administration said it was interested in direct diplomacy with Iran, it indicated that it will not take any other options off the table.

During the ABC interview, Ahmadinejad said he was irritated that Obama didn’t directly respond to his message of congratulations on winning the U.S. election.

“I sent a congratulatory message to Mr. Obama. This was a major decision, although the Iranian people were very much dismayed with the conduct of previous U.S. administrations,” he said.

“And I was criticized here at home in Iran. Nevertheless, I did that. I am yet to receive a response.”

Ahmadinejad also criticized Obama for boycotting last week’s U.N. conference on racism, arguing the world’s biggest problems “have their roots in racial discrimination.”

The Obama administration boycotted the conference citing concerns that the conference would unfairly single out Israel for criticism. A number of delegates walked out of the conference during Ahmadinejad’s address, in which he criticized Israel.