(CNN) -- Ahead of upcoming nuclear talks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad downplayed the threat Israel poses to Iran, comparing it to an annoying bug. "Israel is nothing more than a mosquito which cannot see the broad horizon of the Iranian nation," he said Saturday in northeastern Iran's Khorassan province, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Ahmadinejad said "regional states" were being duped into buying billions in arms from "arrogant and imperial powers," driven in part by all the talk surrounding a potential war involving Iran and Israel, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Such military purchases, he said, are unnecessary because there is no war on the horizon between those two nations.
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NEW: Ahmadinejad says "regional states" have little need to purchase arms
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Iran's president calls Israel a mosquito, downplaying the prospect of war
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Talks on Iran's nuclear program are set for next week in Austria, ahead of P5+1 talks
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Iran's foreign minister recently said he's optimistic there will be progress
He predicted Israel could fall if regional powers cut ties -- particularly by refusing to sell oil to @placeholder.