Posted on 10/26/2005 7:37:12 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
EUROPEAN leaders have condemned statements by the Iranian President calling for Israel to be destroyed.
Speaking in the Iranian capital Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel should be "wiped off the map", the official IRNA news agency reported.
Support for the Palestinian cause is a central pillar of the Islamic Republic which officially refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist.
"Israel must be wiped off the map," Ahmadinejad told a conference called "The World without Zionism", attended by some 3,000 conservative students who chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".
Under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, whose eight-year tenure ended earlier this year, Iran had shown signs of easing its implacable hostility towards Israel. Officials said Tehran might not object to a two-state solution if that was what the Palestinians wanted.
But Ahmadinejad, a former member of the hardline Revolutionary Guards and traditional religious conservative, said there could be no let-up in its hostility to Israel.
"The Islamic world will not let its historic enemy live in its heartland," he said.
White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said Washington took such remarks seriously. "It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's nuclear intentions," he said.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms, but Tehran says it needs atomic fuel only for power stations. Iran has developed ballistic missiles able to hit Israel.
France, Spain, Britain and Canada condemned the President's remarks and the European trio said their foreign ministries would summon Iranian envoys and demand an explanation.
"(These) comments are deeply disturbing and sickening," a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
"We have seen in Israel today the horrible reality of the violence he is praising," he said, referring to a Palestinian suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Hadera that killed five people and wounded 30.
"Saying Iran wants to wipe Israel from the map will only heighten concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions ... We will be protesting to the Iranian charge d'affaires," he said.
"If these (reported) comments are true, they are unacceptable. I condemn them with the greatest firmness," French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy said.
"...Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has expressed his rejection in the most emphatic terms and has decided to urgently call in the Iranian ambassador to ask him for an explanation," the Spanish foreign ministry said.
Tehran denies accusations it trains and arms Palestinian militant groups, saying it offers only moral support.
Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said: "We cannot tolerate comments of such hatred, such anti-Semitism, such intolerance. And these comments are all the more troubling given that we know of Iran's nuclear ambitions."
Good God. We need surgical strikes on their nukes at the very least -- maybe more.
This guy is so bad, even the Frogs and Canadians won't wear him!
Publically at least .
White House Spokesman: Comments of Iran’s President on Israel Only Confirm our Concerns
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509543/posts
Israel should be "wiped off the map": Iran president
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509403/posts
Iran 'lets al-Qaeda roam free'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509678/posts
IRAN READY TO LAUNCH SATELLITE
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509729/posts
Russia to expand cooperation with Iran
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509732/posts
Israel urges UN ouster for 'clear and present danger' Iran
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1509746/posts?page=1
If America invades Iran: Price of oil per barrel will approach $150, warns Iranian diplomat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509805/posts
What do they plan to do about it? Fart in his general direction?
At least several of the world's nations are coming out publicly against Iran's outrageous statements.
Wordy little buggers aren't they?
Simple and understandable totes more reaction.
Although reasonable thinking may be lacking with Ahmadinejad, his words are worth listening to.
Short and simple with with reasoning totes more potency however.
"When Hell freezes over"!
Then where is their support on the WOT?
Stuck on the quagmire of political concern?
Well, I do not remember reading anywhere that Iran has to continue existing.
Yes, but "the greatest firmness" the French can muster can be administered with a feather tickler.....
("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")
I thought Europe considered Iran their friend...
Iran's not looking for nukes? Hm....just last week I had these exact same people telling me that Iran was looking for a way to live in peace with Israel...
I'm sorry, I want sources more reliable than the UN and EU please.
...by a lady wearing rather more leather than cloth.
Actually, Iran is in real diplomatic trouble now, maybe right thru to the end of next week.
You are either with us or you're with the Iranians...
I think Israel needs to do it. Teach them to keep their mouths shut.
Where does Putin stand on this.... ?
If Israel strikes like that in Iran things won't stop there. It's looking more and more like another world war is inevitable, isn't it?
I only hope we start out fighting to win and not with some piss-ant political police action to hold a line.
If Patton and McCarthur were allowed to do what they wanted, can you imagine a world without all the crap that's going on. Countries would respect the US.
NEVER underestimate the treachery of the French........or the unreliability and ineptness of the modern Canadian...
Semper Fi
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