Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani: We Have No Reason to Be Happy about World Economic Crisis

Follwing are excerpts from a public address delivered by Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Iranian Assembly of Experts and of the Expediency Council, which aired on Channel 1, Iranian TV, on October 24, 2008.

Hashemi Rafsanjani: We should not be saying that [the economic crisis] is a good thing, and that it is a divine miracle that [the West] is being punished. Perhaps they are indeed being punished, but things are difficult for everyone. Of course, we don't have the means to hold back this great tsunami, and we don't play such a large role [in the world economy]. The first wave of this tsunami that reached us was the decline in oil prices. The price of oil had risen to 147 dollars a barrel, and now they have announced that Brent crude oil is 64 dollars a barrel. Our oil is several dollars behind the price of Brent crude oil, which is determined as the price standards in London. This is very damaging to us.