Trust Is 'A Two-Way Street'

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Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki spoke with Newsweek-The Post's Lally Weymouth in New York last week about U.S.-Iranian relations. Excerpts:

Q. Do you believe there will be an Israeli or an American attack on your nuclear facilities?

A. No.

If there were such an attack by Israel, would you regard it as an attack by the United States?

In the Middle East, [no one] makes a distinction between the U.S. and Israel.

How do you feel about the recent events in Georgia and Russia's virtual annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia?

There is no doubt that developments inside the Caucasus will come to affect the whole region. A miscalculation and wrong information were behind the events.

You mean a miscalculation by President [Mikheil] Saakashvili was behind the events in August?

The miscalculation was made by all parties involved in the military action.

Including Russia?

Of course not. The miscalculation had everything to do with [Georgia] not expecting the Russians to deal with this in such a fashion. And the supporters [are also at fault].