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Following are excerpts from an interview with former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Iranian Expediency Council, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on May 18, 2007:
Interviewer: Honorable Sheik, can you say something to reassure the Gulf countries that Iran knows exactly who are its enemies and who are its friends, and they will not pay the price of an American-Iranian conflict in the region?
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Hashemi Rafsanjani: This is exactly the case, but we expect the countries of the region and the Muslim countries to bear this in mind as well, and not allow their territory to be used for a possible attack.
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Interviewer: How do you view the fears of the creation of a "Shiite Crescent"?
Hashemi Rafsanjani: Take Palestine, for example. We give support to the mujahideen in Palestine. Are they Shiites? No, they are Sunnis. Moreover, they are zealous Sunnis. Hamas is zealous with regard to Sunni Islam, but because of their Jihad and resistance, we supply them with aid. Likewise, when we supplied support in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo – were they Shiite? It's not like that. Similarly, in Afghanistan, when we gave supported to the Jihad of the mujahideen, we support all the groups – Sunni and Shiite alike – as much as we could. In the Iraq of Saddam Hussein, many of our Sunni brothers found refuge in Iran, just like the Shiite brothers. In Lebanon as well, we gave support when Israel invaded Lebanese territories and occupied them. We gave support to whoever resisted the Israeli occupation in Lebanon. The late sheik Sa'id Sha'ban, who was a close friend of Iran – was he Shiite? He was a Sunni scholar. It's not like that. It is not part of our plan... Naturally, Iran has good relations with the Shiites, but this is not directed against any other party. We are interested in the just resistance and when we feel a certain people is oppressed, we give it support. Rest assured that we believe that inter-sectarian politics are detrimental to us and to all Muslims, and we believe that these politics prevent us from achieving unity. All the Islamic countries can see that we never interfere. All we did was to give the support to the resistance everywhere.
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Interviewer: Has the Iranian revolution developed its discourse and principles to the point that it can accept the Israeli state as a fait accompli in the region?
Hashemi Rafsanjani: I will refer to all three points of your question. First, our principle is that Israel is an artificial and illegitimate entity. We believe in this, and we also believe that Israel plundered the Palestinian lands, and drove the Palestinians out. Israel relies on the West and receives aid from America. This is also clear. America confronts any power which threatens Israel. However, will we initiate the annihilation of Israel? This is not the way we view it. This is up to the Palestinians, and they should take whatever initiative they deem fit.
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