Free Republic

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 31 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the country’s officials to be united in one front against the “common enemy” as he reaffirmed that the state of Israel would eventually be toppled, state-run dailies reported on Monday. Khamenei told a meeting of senior Iranian officials that they had a duty to avoid falling into the “traps and plans of the enemy”. He said that the “enemy had put immense effort in recent years to create divisions and cracks” among the country’s rulers. “Fortunately, certain officials were vigilant and stood up against this plan”, the...

Behind Iran's open threat to Israel Amir Taheri writes in the New York Post about what may lie behind Iran President Ahmadinejad’s naked threat to obliterate Isarel: Ahmadinejad has gone several steps further — presenting the destruction of Israel as a major goal of his government. Why? One reason may be his desire to distance himself as far as possible from his predecessor, Muhammad Khatami, and from Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful mullah-cum-businessman who still heads a key faction within the regime. Ahmadinejad has criticized the “softness” of Khatami and his mentor Rafsanjani, which led to “a decline in revolutionary spirit.”...

AMMAN. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The Iranian president's tough statements about Israel have not influenced Moscow's position on the Iranian "nuclear dossier", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters during his visit to Jordan on Thursday. "Our position on Iran remains unchanged. We favor cooperation through the IAEA in dealing with problems related to the Iranian nuclear program," he said.

Oct 27, 2005 Russia has quietly worked to forge a quasi-alliance of that to rival the US-led NATO, between current and future nuclear powers of Pakistan, China and Iran. This alignment is specifically geared toward confronting the US in a hotly contested market for geopolitical status in the middle east and to dictate economic trends concerning natural resources in the region. Decision by the IAEA to refer Iran to the UN Security Council has also put Russia in a difficult position between choosing its long-term economic ties with the EU and US or short-term ones with Iran. As the world...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" does not signal the start of a more aggressive stance toward Israel by Tehran, officials and analysts said on Thursday. "Iran's policy toward Israel will remain unchanged. We do not want more confrontation with the West," a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the conference "The World without Zionism" in Tehran October 26, 2005. Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" does not signal the start of a more aggressive stance toward...

Israel should be "wiped off the map": Iran president Agence France-Presse | October 26, 2005 Posted on 10/26/2005 2:44:55 AM PDT by HAL9000 Original Article on FRKHALID MASHALThis cult is dangerous and should be dealt with now

TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Wednesday that Israel is a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map" — fiery words that Washington said underscores its concern over Iran's nuclear program. Ahmadinejad's speech to thousands of students at a "World without Zionism" conference set a hard-line foreign policy course sharply at odds with that of his moderate predecessor, echoing the sentiments of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution. The United States said Ahmadinejad's remarks show that Washington's fears about Iran's nuclear program are accurate. "I think it reconfirms what we have been saying about...

Britain is to summon a top Iranian diplomat to protest against his president's comments about Israel. Hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map". The Foreign Office will call in Iran's London chargé d'affaires on Thursday. It said the comments were "deeply disturbing and sickening". The US said they highlighted concerns about Iran's nuclear plans, which Iran says are for peaceful purposes only. 'Horrible reality' Mr Ahmadinejad made his comments at a conference in the Iranian capital Tehran entitled The World without Zionism. He said Israel's establishment was "a move by the...

JERUSALEM - Israel's vice prime minister said Iran should be expelled from the United Nations after its new president said Israel should be "wiped off the map," and Britain summoned an Iranian diplomat Thursday to protest the remarks. Italy on Thursday also condemned the words of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, telling the Iranian ambassador the comments were "unacceptable" and that they confirm worries over the political positions — and nuclear intentions — of Iran's new leadership. Shimon Peres, Israel's vice prime minister and a Nobel peace laureate, said it was "impossible to ignore" Ahmadinejad's comments. "Since the United Nations was established...

The decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council has thrown into sharp focus relations between Iran and Russia. Moscow may soon have to choose whether to back Iran or align itself with the US and the European Union (EU) in reining in Iran's nuclear intentions. Russia appears ready to co-operate with both the USA and Iran in order to boost its trade relations with the two countries. Although Russia is also a leading oil exporter and therefore unlikely to be intimidated by Iranian threats to reduce oil sales, the...

LONDON - Governments around the world expressed shock and scorn Thursday at the Iranian president's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map," and several summoned Tehran's envoys in their capitals for a reprimand. However, Israeli calls for Iran to be expelled from the United Nations over the remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were not immediately taken up by other nations. In a speech Wednesday, Ahmadinejad denounced Israel and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks "will wipe this stigma from the face of the Islamic world." Citing the words of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, the late...