Hossein Sheikholeslam, Former Iranian Ambassador to Syria and Member of the Foreign Policy and National Security Council in the Iranian Parliament: The Americans Perpetrated 9/11

Following are excerpts from an interview with former Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hossein Sheikholeslam, who is a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Council of the Iranian Parliament, which aired on Jaam-e Jam 2 TV on July 10, 2007:

Hossein Sheikholeslam: [The Americans], using their creation, Al-Qaeda, carried out the events of 9/11. 9/11 prepared the ground for their attack on the region, using all possible means. One good question that arises is: If nobody knew in Advance what time the first airplane was supposed to hit the first tower, how come there were several professional cameras that zoomed in to film the event? This is understandable with regard to the second tower, because the first tower was already in flames. All the journalists present were zooming in on the first tower, when the second plane came and hit the second tower. That's how they filmed it. But professionally filing the attack on the first tower, from different angles, if nobody had prior knowledge that it was going to happen... So I am certain that it was planned by the Americans and Mr. Bush, whose major investments are in weapons and oil.

[The Americans] carried it out, at the expense of the region and the American people, and at the expense of the Europeans and others. That is how they got us to the current situation. Fortunately or unfortunately, they cannot even get out of there, end this battle, and leave.

Interviewer: Do you think that the Americans anticipated that it would come to this?

Hossein Sheikholeslam: In my opinion, the Americans created this situation, and what is happening today, is a scenario prepared in advance. Now the conflict in the elections between the Democrats and the Republicans focuses on seeking a way to get out [of Iraq]. But America in its entirety – both the democrats and the Republicans – is incapable of resolving this problem, because it got itself stuck in a quagmire, from which it cannot get out.

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Since the victory of the Islamic revolution, the pressure exerted on Israel is so great that Israel, which was growing bigger and bigger in the past, is now growing smaller and smaller. It has withdrawn from Lebanon – from Beirut and from the occupied strip in South Lebanon, the security zone – and it has withdrawn from Gaza. Now it is building a wall, which, by the way, we oppose. What does this mean? It means that [Israel] plans to move behind this wall. All their theories of Arab and Zionist coexistence have collapsed. If the pressure continues – and Allah willing, it will – Israel will cease to exist. They will have to return to where they came from.