Ahmadinejad: 'US becoming weaker and weaker, hated in the region'

JP:  "The United States has become weaker and weaker. Now they are hated in the region," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview with CNN on Saturday.

Slamming foreign intervention in both Libya and Syria, Ahmadinejad explained that "It was the will of the people that should work. ... justice, freedom and respect - this is the right of all nations."

The Iranian president condemned NATO intervention in Libya and said that while "there should be no interference from outside" in Syria, Tehran would work to encourage peaceful negotiations between the government and protesters.

He also repeated Iran's denial of involvement in a plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States.

Addressing Iran's controversial nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said that "the era of nuclear bombs is over."

On Friday, the European Union's foreign policy chief wrote in a letter to Tehran that major powers are willing to meet with Iran within weeks if Tehran is prepared to "engage seriously in meaningful discussions" on its disputed nuclear program.