Ahlul Bayt News Agency - ABNA - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says there is no hate between Muslims and Americans despite an apparent escalation in tensions fueled by controversies over a proposed mosque near ground zero in New York and a plan by a Florida pastor to burn Qurans.
"People (in Islamic countries) are against that ugly behavior," he said in an exclusive interview with NBC News' Andrea Mitchell. "They are not against the people of the United States. They are not against Americans, they are not against Jews. They are not against Christians or Christianity."
Protests erupted around the world denouncing the United States after a small Florida church had threatened to burn the Quran on the Sept. 11 anniversary, marking the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York.
Although that church backed down, several copycat burnings were posted on the Internet and broadcast in the Muslim world. The controversy around the Quran burning has been heightened amid plans to build a Islamic cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site, a proposal that has drawn sharp opposition across the United States.
In the interview with Mitchell in Iran, Ahmadinejad on Wednesday denounced what he described as a "minority" in the United States seeking to foster hostility with other nations.
"Their interests lie in creating wars and conflicts," he said. "Quran is a heavenly book, a divine book. That was an ugly thing, to burn a holy book. That is a desecration to billions of believers and people in the world."
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15 September 2010 - 19:30
News ID: 205520
Iranian president says 'minority' in U.S. tries to fuel hostility against Islam
