Interviewer: And what about now?

Mohsen Rezai: Now, the [Iranian] officials should be careful not to view America and the West as clumsy and incapable people. [...]

America's arrival in the region presented Iran with an historic opportunity. The kind of service that the Americans, with all their hatred, have done us - no superpower has ever done anything similar.

America destroyed all our enemies in the region. It destroyed the Taliban. It destroyed Mr. Saddam Hussein. It imprisoned the hypocrites [Mojahedin-e Khalq] in France. It did all this in order to confront us face to face, and in order to place us under siege. But the American teeth got so stuck in the soil of Iraq and Afghanistan that if they manage to drag themselves back to Washington in one piece, they should thank God. [...] The most important thing is that we have to make sure that we view our regional influence as a national interest, and continue to preserve it. For this, two things are necessary: One is that we must be steadfast, display courage, and not be afraid. The second is that we must refrain from anything unreasonable or adventurous.

View the entire transcript.

The Middle East Media Research Institute contributes a regular series of posts about media in the Middle East for Passport.