Was watching BookTV last nite........

Scott Ritter and Seymour Hirsh were having a talk to what was obviously a very simpathetic audience. Any way Mr. Ritter said:

The true power in Iran rests with the Supreme Leader. The Supreme Leader is the Ayatollah Khamenei. He is supported by an organization called the Guardian Council. Then there’s another group called the Expediency Council. These are the people that control the military, the police, the nuclear program, all the instruments of power. And not only has the Supreme Leader issued a fatwa that says that nuclear weapons are not compatible with Islamic law, with the Shia belief system that he is responsible, in 2003 he (Ayatollah Khamenei) actually reached out to the Bush administration via the Swiss embassy and said, “Look, we would like to normalize relations with the United States. We’d like to initiate a process that leads to a peace treaty between Israel and Iran.” Get this, Israel and Iran. He’s not saying, “We want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.” He is saying, “We want peace with Israel.” And they were willing to put their nuclear program on the table.

I've enhanced the part which I hadn't heard before. In fact on last evenings program Mr. Ritter went a bit further and said that Iran dislikes the Arabs more intesnsely than Isreal.

Has anyone else told of this incident other than Mr. Ritter? I would just like some other verification. Mr. Ritter's dislike of the current administration is well known and a second or better yet third confirmation of the incident is important. Important to me at least.