Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

Iran's President Ahmadinejad speaks to the Iranian media during a news conference in Tehran, Nov. 14, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    TEHRAN, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that the Republican's defeat in U.S. mid-term election was not the defeat of President George W. Bush but a defeat of U.S. policies in the world.

    "This is not the defeat of Bush's party but the defeat of U.S. policies in the world, the police of arrogance, the policy of disrespect to the world nations," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference.

    Commenting on the latest U.S. congress election, Ahmadinejad said, "This defeat in fact is the humiliation of the U.S. nation since it questioned the prestige of the Americans." Meanwhile, the president also warned the winning Democrats not to choose the same policies of the Bush administration.

    "I advise those who have been elected in the U.S. elections to be more cautious of what they do, if they follow their predecessor's policies they should expect even worse outcome, the slap this time will be even harder on their face," stressed Ahmadinejad.

    "If they correct their attitude toward Iran we are ready to proceed with dialogue, we think the result of the mid-term election is an good opportunity for the U.S. to change attitudes in order to facilitate the dialogue," he said.

    "But we will never talk to the Zionist regime (Israel)," he added immediately.

    The president also said he would send a message to the U.S. people in the near future and talk to them, but he did not elaborate on what he wanted to say.

    "This is the response to their (U.S. people) request from me when I was in the U.S.," he said, referring to his attendance to the UN assembly in New York in September.

    Iran's top officials recently have repeatedly expressed their views on the U.S. mid-term election. Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei said on Friday that the Republican defeat in the election was a rejection of George W. Bush's "war-mongering" policies.

    Meanwhile, a top Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani also has advised the Democrats, who will take control of the new Congress convening in January, to allow Iran to pursue its nuclear ambitions.

    In the latest US mid-term congressional elections, Democrats seized control of both houses of the Congress, with many voters saying they cast ballots for the Democrats in protest over how the Bush administration has managed the war in Iraq.

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