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RAFSANJANI SAYS MUSLIMS SHOULD USE NUCLEAR WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL (Iran)
Iran Press Service ^

Posted on 03/12/2003 9:54:15 AM PST by William McKinley

RAFSANJANI SAYS MUSLIMS SHOULD USE NUCLEAR WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL

TEHRAN 14 Dec. (IPS) One of Iran’s most influential ruling cleric called Friday on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only".

"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.

Analysts said not only Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s speech was the strongest against Israel, but also this is the first time that a prominent leader of the Islamic Republic openly suggests the use of nuclear weapon against the Jewish State.

"It seems that Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani is forgetting that due to the present intertwinement of Israel and Palestine, the destruction of the Jewish State would also means the mass killing of Palestinian population as well", observed one Iranian commentator.

While Israel is believed to possess between 100 to 200 nuclear war heads, the Islamic Republic and Iraq are known to be working hard to produce their own atomic weapons with help from Russia and North Korea, Pakistan, also a Muslim state, has already a certain number of nuclear bomb.

In a lengthy speech to mark the so-called "International Qods (Jerusalem) Day" celebrated in Iran only, Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who, as the Chairman of the Assembly to Discern the Interests of the State, is the Islamic Republic’s number two man after Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, said since Israel was an emanation of Western colonialism therefore "in future it will be the interests of colonialism that will determine existence or non-existence of Israel".

Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani made the unprecedented threat as, following new suicide operations inside Israel and against Israeli settlements by Palestinian extremists in PA-controlled zones, responded by Israel’s heaviest bombarding of Palestinian cities, police, communication and radio-television installations, killing and wounding more than 200 people on both sides, resulted in the halting of all contacts between Israel and the PA of Mr. Yaser Arafat.

He said since Israel is the product of Western colonialism, "the continued existence of Israel depends on interests of arrogance and colonialism and as long as the base is helpful for colonialism, it is going to keep it.

Hashemi-Rafsanjani advised Western states not to pin their hopes on Israel's violence because it will be "very dangerous".

"We are not willing to see security in the world is harmed", he said, warning against the "eruption of the Third World War.

"War of the pious and martyrdom seeking forces against peaks of colonialism will be highly dangerous and might fan flames of the World War III", the former Iranian president said, backing firmly suicide operations against Israel.

Quoted by the official news agency IRNA, Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani said weakening of Palestinian Jihad is "unlikely", as the Palestinians have come to the conclusion that talks would be effective only "in light of struggle and self-sacrifice- the two key elements that gave way to beginning of the second Intifada".
Iranian analysts and commentators outside Iran immediately reacted to Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s statement, expressing fear that it might trigger an international backlash against Iran itself, giving Israel, the United States and other Western and even Arab nations to further isolate Iran as a source of threat to regional security.
"Jews shall expect to be once again scattered and wandering around the globe the day when this appendix is extracted from the region and the Muslim world", Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani warned, blaming on the United States and Britain the "creation of the fabricated entity" in the heart of Arab and Muslim world.

"The man who considers himself as the most able politician in the Islamic Republic utters such nonsense and empty threats at a very time that the hard line and extremist government of Israel under Mr. Ariel Sharon is looking for justification of its repressive policy against Palestinians", said Mr. Ahmad Salamatian, a veteran political analyst based in Paris.

"At a time that the right wing Israeli government is claiming that the very existence of Israel and the Jews are threatened and uses this pretext as an instrument to advance its policy of repression in Palestine, such statements and ushering such dangerous menaces by one of Iran’s top officials is nothing but bringing water to Israel’s propaganda mill, providing it with more justifications explaining its present maximalist policy", he told the Persian service of Radio France Internationale.

Though Mr. Salamatian is of the opinion that Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s words are part of both his own show and the ongoing internal tensions between conservatives and reformers, however, he also agrees with other Iranian analysts that his "untimely" menace could backfire, becoming a justification for threats against Iran, at a time that the United States and its allies are determined to continue the fight against international terrorism.

"One of Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s main characteristics in Iranian politics during the past twenty years is that in order to preserve his own position, he is ready to set fire to all the Caesareas for one handkerchief, including, in the present case, providing Israel with enough pretext to attack Iran", he noted, adding: "for the time being and what is important for Mr. Sharon is that this kind of statements are open invitation for more violence, an encouragement to extremists on either side of the Israel-Palestine conflict".

Observing that despite the fact that Israel is believed to have more than one hundred atomic warheads and the necessary technology to transport them to the very heart of Iran and elsewhere, but no Israeli official nor any newspaper have ever raised the slightest possibility of an atomic threat, "even in defence of their very existence", Mr. Salamatian wondered the reasons behind Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s declaration, which he said should be taken seriously "considering the rank of the man who pronounced it". ENDS RAFSANJANI NUKE THREATS 141201


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: axisofevil; iran; rafsanjani
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1 posted on 03/12/2003 9:54:16 AM PST by William McKinley
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To: William McKinley
bump
2 posted on 03/12/2003 9:55:41 AM PST by Centurion2000 (Take charge of your destiny, or someone else will)
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To: William McKinley
would also means the mass killing of Palestinian population as well

Not to mention the annihilation of most Iranians.

3 posted on 03/12/2003 9:56:13 AM PST by Semper Paratus
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To: William McKinley
Hey, Jim Moran! Any wonder why the JEWS support the war against Iraq?
4 posted on 03/12/2003 9:57:07 AM PST by 11th Earl of Mar
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To: William McKinley
Um....okay Mr. Rafasanjani, step up to the plate. YOU be next.
5 posted on 03/12/2003 9:57:20 AM PST by EggsAckley ( Hannibal Lechter: "I love the French. They taste like chicken.")
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To: William McKinley
it would cost them "damages only".

Wrong-o. It'll cost them Mecca.

6 posted on 03/12/2003 9:58:02 AM PST by nina0113
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
Yet somehow, when Bush named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as being an axis of evil, he was the one out of line. Go figure.
7 posted on 03/12/2003 9:58:04 AM PST by William McKinley (And as she started to go, she said "Billy keep your head low Billy don't be a hero come back to me")
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To: William McKinley
"It seems that Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani is forgetting that due to the present intertwinement of Israel and Palestine, the destruction of the Jewish State would also means the mass killing of Palestinian population as well", observed one Iranian commentator.

Of course, but the Jihadis are motivated by hatred of the Jews, not any sincere compassion for the so-called Palestinians. They care nothing about them other than as a tool to destroy the Kafir state (Israel) in their midst.

8 posted on 03/12/2003 9:59:05 AM PST by Hugin
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To: William McKinley
He is all but inviting the Israelis to do an Osirak on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.
9 posted on 03/12/2003 9:59:10 AM PST by denydenydeny
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
I smell a smouldering old nuclear reactor in Iran.
10 posted on 03/12/2003 9:59:48 AM PST by labowski
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I should have linked also the NRO's The Corner, which is where I saw mention of this.
11 posted on 03/12/2003 10:00:00 AM PST by William McKinley (You're so vain, you probably think this tagline's about you)
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To: William McKinley; weikel; SJackson
Their little pissant theocracy won't last the year.

Israel is going to take out the reactor before it comes fully online.
12 posted on 03/12/2003 10:00:20 AM PST by Sparta (I like RINO hunting)
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To: William McKinley
How long until Israel takes out Iran's nuclear reactor? How perfect. Reactor gone, and we had nothing to do with it.
13 posted on 03/12/2003 10:01:43 AM PST by Bluegrass Federalist
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To: Sparta
Israel is going to take out the reactor before it comes fully online.

Probably tue. The question is, we will condemn it this time around (at least publicly)?

14 posted on 03/12/2003 10:01:43 AM PST by RoughDobermann
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To: denydenydeny
He is all but inviting the Israelis to do an Osirak on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.

I'll bet it's a done deal.

Let's refuel them as they fly on over North Korea on the return trip.

15 posted on 03/12/2003 10:03:21 AM PST by CROSSHIGHWAYMAN
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To: William McKinley
Mr. Salamatian wondered the reasons behind Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s declaration

It's simple. He said what all irrational, uncivilized, barbaric, childish Muslims think, deep down, but are unwilling to say in public. These bustards think with their spleens.

16 posted on 03/12/2003 10:04:11 AM PST by Migraine (trut)
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To: William McKinley

17 posted on 03/12/2003 10:05:13 AM PST by Jewels1091
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To: denydenydeny

I hope they do Bomb the crap out of the Reactor.

At least someone would be showing some guts.

18 posted on 03/12/2003 10:05:43 AM PST by Prysson
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To: Jewels1091
I found a picture that I can't seem to post...but it is funny.
19 posted on 03/12/2003 10:06:13 AM PST by Jewels1091
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To: William McKinley
After this speech from a person with a high degree of political authority in Iran, any attack by Israel against an Iranian nuclear facility has to be categorized as defensive rather than pre-emptive. AJP Taylor pointed out quite some time ago that Hitler from 1933 on clearly told other governments that he was going to engage in aggressive miliary actions, and they wilfully stuck their heads in the sand.

Israel, fortunately, has been far more careful in taking its enemies at their word. Thank heavens someone learns from history.

20 posted on 03/12/2003 10:06:46 AM PST by Right Wing Professor
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