Iran's President in "wipe Israel off map" comments

[TAE]

Bullshit.

Read his comments in post 26. It has nothing to do with 'holding free elections in the occupied territories.'

I did.

I see nothing in there which clearly suggests he is talking about literally launching a military conflict. I still think he is an idiot for using such ambigues language.

 

[oi2002]

Now the Mullahs are trying to make nice.

"The position of Iran on Palestine has not changed, it is the Palestinians who should defend their own rights and decide on their own fate," insisted Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and in charge of Iran's nuclear negotiations.

"It is a psychological war orchestrated by media who want to weaken Iran in international institutions," he charged.

Ahmadinejad's former presidential rival Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani insisted: "We have no problem with the Jews. Our issue is Zionism which is only a limited part of the Jewish society."

Other slogans used at the rally included: "The only way to combat the Zionist enemy is resistance and Jihad" and: "Every Iranian is an atomic bomb" -- even though most participants insisted they did not want to see a war break out.

Haaretz

Just prior, however, Iran sought to smooth over the effects of Ahmadinejad's comments, saying through its Moscow embassy that he did not mean to "speak up in such sharp terms."

"Mr. Ahmadinejad did not have any intention to speak up in such sharp terms and enter into a conflict," the Iranian Embassy in Moscow said in a statement.

"It's absolutely clear that, in his remarks, Mr. Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, underlined the key position of Iran, based on the necessity to hold free elections on the occupied territories," the statement said.

Dubya must be delighted by Ahmadinejad's idiotic antics only good thing that's happened to him this month.

AFP offers a spectrum of opinion from the Iranian street:

"All Iranians think like Ahmadinejad," argued Seyed Mohammadi, 40, a member of the Basij militia's "Martyrdom Candidates Brigade."

"If we are given the order to fight, we will do it. But we are not partisans of war. We want peace in the world," he said.

"What Ahmadinejad said is the sentiment of all Iranians," agreed Amir Hosseini, 45, a Revolutionary Guards officer taking part in the rally. But he added there was "no need for military action" against Israel.
...
"Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. What is happening in Palestine is the fight between Islam and the infidels," said the turbaned cleric.

"But that does not mean that we want to kill Israelis."

Mohammad, a state employee in his 50s, agreed: "Iranians have lived with Jews for hundreds of years. What Ahmadinejad said was not about Israel but about the Israeli government. Iran does not intend to attack Israel because it has only ever defended itself."

Only one person was found who openly called for the literal destruction of Israel by Iran - a 40-year-old woman dressed in the customary all-black chador.

"All Iranians want war with Israel. This war will be more important than that against Iraq," said Fatemeh Vahdanifar, referring to the devastating 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq.

 

[nino_savatte]

Now the Mullahs are trying to make nice.

Haaretz Dubya must be delighted by Ahmadinejad's idiotic antics only good thing that's happened to him this month.

Aye, this plays right into the hands of Bush and his warheads. It's too late for the mullahs to smooth ruffled feathers: it's like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

Ahmadinejad is a complete and utter tool.

 

[JWH]

does Israel do coups?

No, they do a (pretty good version of) democracy (as long as you're a Jewish Israeli, that is). No need for coups.

 

[Ryazan]

I disagree I think it plays usefully for controlling the home population-- that's the most important threat he and the Iranian state system faces.

Provoke western and American counter-over-reaction and shut down dissent as in league with westen and American oppressors etc etc.

Interesting point.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I did.

I see nothing in there which clearly suggests he is talking about literally launching a military conflict. I still think he is an idiot for using such ambigues language.

Tens of thousands of Iranians took part in the rally in Tehran which Iran organises every year on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan to show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

Shouting "Death to Israel, death to the Zionists", the protesters dragged Israeli flags along the ground and then set them on fire.

Many carried posters and placards sporting the slogan "Israel should be wiped off the map".

Joining the protest, Mr Ahmadinejad said: "My words were the Iranian nation's words.

"Westerners are free to comment, but their reactions are invalid," Mr Ahmadinejad told the official Irna news agency.

Some demonstrators wore white shrouds in a symbolic gesture expressing readiness to die for their cause.

"Ahmadinejad talks on behalf of all Iranians. We are ready to die for Palestine," Mohammad Mirzayi, a member of a volunteer Shia militia group, told the Reuters news agency.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4384264.stm

 

[dylanredefined]

Tony Blair should have called his bluff ."how your going to do that ?You couldn't even beat the iraq army " And just laugh it off the idea of iran threatning anyone with a conventiol attack is a non starter .

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Tony Blair should have called his bluff ."how your going to do that ?You couldn't even beat the iraq army " And just laugh it off the idea of iran threatning anyone with a conventiol attack is a non starter .

Might be a different story if they develop nukes.

 

[winterinmoscow]

I haven't managed to read all this, but I think Kaka Tim got the nail squarely on the head in his post a bit back

 

[dylanredefined]

Not really no israel , no iran and middle east devasted by fall out . Haliburton corners market in lead lined oil extracting machines .He hasen't got
any nukes at present somone should tell him to shut up and grow up .

 

[untethered]

So how long will it be before Galloway's in Tehran to brown-nose the prez?

Ahmadinejad strikes me as the kind of leader he'd consider to be courageous, strong and indefatigable.

He's got an awful lot of oil, too.

 

[oi2002]

The Belgravia Dispatch notes the odd silence of the Whitehouse:

...Bush still hasn't even made a Blairite comment on the Iranian leader's comments, as far as I'm aware, nor even Condi--though they will doubtless soon, beyond the 'outlaw regime' soundbites...

Odd really, Ahmadinejad been struting about like the biggest chicken in farmyard for a couple of months, practically taunting Dubya with his defiance.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Tens of thousands of Iranians took part in the rally in Tehran which Iran organises every year on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan to show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

So what makes this year so special?

Could it be that though this distasteful rally has occurred probably every year for the last two decades it has suddenly become convenient for certain ideologues to hear what was discussed?

 

[nino_savatte]

So what makes this year so special?

Could it be that though this distasteful rally has occurred probably every year for the last two decades it has suddenly become convenient for certain ideologues to hear what was discussed?

Aye, this is the impression that I get. This rally was reported in order to talk up possible military action. It is fortunate enough for the hawks that Ahmadinejad has such a big gob on him. Naturally and predictably, the inevitable comparisons to Hitler and Nazi Germany have been wheeled out to reinforce their case for 'action'.

I haven't heard a peep from Pahlavi though.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

So what makes this year so special?

Could it be that though this distasteful rally has occurred probably every year for the last two decades it has suddenly become convenient for certain ideologues to hear what was discussed?

Maybe we should have been listening all along.

 

[inflatable jesus]

I recall reading a while ago about the lobbying that Israel has been doing over the past few years in Washington DC with regard to Iran. From what I remember, the Israeli government and military were always pretty certain that they could take care of Iran by themselves but, as anyone with a basic knowledge of the Israeli-US relationship will understand, they know that they need a green light from Bush before they could take any military action.

Privately, I suspect that Sharon would have be doing cartwheels when he heard these comments. He knows that with America's expensive military aid, they could easily take Iran in any kind of national 'square-go'.

From what I remember, it's Iran's support of Hezbollah that is the the big issue for them. I don't think anyone in the Israeli goverment seriously believes that Iran would try to wage a conventional war against them. I also don't think that anyone in Israel seriously thinks this guy's comments mark any kind of shift in Iranian foreign policy.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Maybe we should have been listening all along.

I don't disagree, Johnny.

I merely find the apparent convenience of the political establishments of certain western states actually noticing this somewhat unconvincing, what with the degree to which the noticing of such utterances assists certain ideologues to make a case for state-to-state violence.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I also don't think that anyone in Israel seriously thinks this guy's comments mark any kind of shift in Iranian foreign policy.

Is it a good thing that this is standard policy in Iran?

You're probably right about it not being news in Israel. That's why they're vehemently opposed to Iran's nuke development program.

 

[inflatable jesus]

Is it a good thing that this is standard policy in Iran?

Of course not. In fact I would say it's quite bad.

You're probably right about it not being news in Israel. That's why they're vehemently opposed to Iran's nuke development program.

I'd say so, although perhaps not for the same reasons you might. I would say that the Israeli government and military is concerned that if Iran develops Nuclear weapons, then Israel would no longer be able to use their superior military forces against them should they wish to. I think Israel wants to have that option just in case.

 

[oi2002]

Khatami in holocaust a "historical reality" shock.

 

[slaar]

Khatami in holocaust a "historical reality" shock.

I especially like this bit:

Last month Iran's ambassador to Portugal Mohammed Taheri also questioned the Holocaust, telling Portuguese public radio that "to incinerate six mln people, you'd need around 15 years".