Iran's president on Thursday called Israel's government a "regime based on evil," but also said he was ready to negotiate with the United States and other countries over his country's nuclear program. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said Israel should be wiped off the map, also told a cheering crowd of students in Indonesia's capital that the Jewish state "cannot continue and one day will vanish."
Students in the crowd held up posters saying "Iran in our Hearts," and "Nuclear for Peace."
Ahmadinejad made his comments after key U.N. Security Council members agreed to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment.
The Iranian leader told Indonesia's Metro TV station that he was unconcerned about the possibility of U.N. sanctions, saying the West had more to lose than Iran did if the country was isolated.
"We do not need to be dependent on others," he said, adding international isolation would serve only to "motivate" the country's nuclear scientists.
