Iran president stands by Israel remarks
I didn't mean it sound so harsh, but I did mean it...
And I thought that Freedom and Democracy were supposed to be spreading throughout the Middle East about now.
Iran president stands by Israel remarks
Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:49 PM BST
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, cheered by thousands of supporters, signalled on Friday he stood by his call for Israel to be wiped off the map, while Iran's foreign ministry sought to defuse a diplomatic storm.
Israel said it would request an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council over the comments, which have drawn the condemnation of the West and Tehran's ally Russia.
Iranians chanting "death to Israel" and "death to America", converged from nine points in the Iranian capital for a rally attended by most of Iran's top officials. Some protesters set fire to or trampled on Israeli and U.S. flags.
Ahmadinejad took a short walk in the crowd, rallying in support of his comments that the Islamic world could not tolerate the Jewish state in its heartland. He said Western criticism carried no weight.
"My words are the Iranian nation's words," he told the official IRNA news agency, when asked if he had a message for the world.
"Westerners are free to comment, but their reactions are invalid."
The Islamic Republic has never acknowledged Israel's right to exist. It denies training and arming Palestinian militant groups dedicated to Israel's destruction but says it gives them moral support.
The Iranian embassy in Moscow, however, sought to soften the effect of the comments by Ahmadinejad, an outspoken former Tehran mayor with little diplomatic experience, propelled to power last year by strong support among the devout poor.
"Mr Ahmadinejad did not have any intention to speak up in such sharp terms and enter into a conflict," the embassy said in a statement, a first official reaction to the West's outrage.
"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."
Moscow is home to one of Iran's key embassies, and the Islamic Republic has used it in the past to comment on broad foreign policy matters.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Russia, which sees Tehran as a key ally in the Middle East, has positioned itself as a link between the Islamic Republic and the West in key disputes, especially over Iran's nuclear energy programme which the West suspects could mask atomic arms plans.
Russia has long defended Iran's right to develop peaceful atomic projects and is co-operating in building a nuclear power plant in Iran.
Analysts and media in Russia said Ahmadinejad's comment had seriously shaken Moscow's resolve to protect its ally against a possible referral over its nuclear programme to the Security Council, where Russia has a permanent, veto-wielding seat.
Officials and analysts in Tehran have played down the remarks by Ahmadinejad, a former member of the hardline Revolutionary Guards and traditional religious conservative.
They have said the comments did not mark the start of a new, more aggressive stance towards Israel and that Tehran was not seeking confrontation with the West.
The Tehran demonstrations, which also took place in other parts of Iran, were organised by Islamic hardliners to mark "Qods Day" (Jerusalem Day), which the Islamic republic observes on the last Friday of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan.
Soldiers, civil servants and women wearing head-to-toe black chadors joined the demonstration.
"Ahmadinejad talks on behalf of all Iranians. We are ready to die for Palestine," said Mohammad Mirzayi, 25, a hardline volunteer member of the Basiji militia which enforces social restrictions such as Islamic dress codes for women.
© Reuters 2005.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-10-28T124834Z_01_HOL724007_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAN-ISRAEL.xml
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, cheered by thousands of supporters, signalled on Friday he stood by his call for Israel to be wiped off the map, while Iran's foreign ministry sought to defuse a diplomatic storm.
The Iranian embassy in Moscow, however, sought to soften the effect of the comments by Ahmadinejad, an outspoken former Tehran mayor with little diplomatic experience, propelled to power last year by strong support among the devout poor. "Mr Ahmadinejad did not have any intention to speak up in such sharp terms and enter into a conflict," the embassy said in a statement, a first official reaction to the West's outrage.
And I thought that Freedom and Democracy were supposed to be spreading throughout the Middle East about now.
Iran president stands by Israel remarks
Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:49 PM BST
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, cheered by thousands of supporters, signalled on Friday he stood by his call for Israel to be wiped off the map, while Iran's foreign ministry sought to defuse a diplomatic storm.
Israel said it would request an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council over the comments, which have drawn the condemnation of the West and Tehran's ally Russia.
Iranians chanting "death to Israel" and "death to America", converged from nine points in the Iranian capital for a rally attended by most of Iran's top officials. Some protesters set fire to or trampled on Israeli and U.S. flags.
Ahmadinejad took a short walk in the crowd, rallying in support of his comments that the Islamic world could not tolerate the Jewish state in its heartland. He said Western criticism carried no weight.
"My words are the Iranian nation's words," he told the official IRNA news agency, when asked if he had a message for the world.
"Westerners are free to comment, but their reactions are invalid."
The Islamic Republic has never acknowledged Israel's right to exist. It denies training and arming Palestinian militant groups dedicated to Israel's destruction but says it gives them moral support.
The Iranian embassy in Moscow, however, sought to soften the effect of the comments by Ahmadinejad, an outspoken former Tehran mayor with little diplomatic experience, propelled to power last year by strong support among the devout poor.
"Mr Ahmadinejad did not have any intention to speak up in such sharp terms and enter into a conflict," the embassy said in a statement, a first official reaction to the West's outrage.
"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."
Moscow is home to one of Iran's key embassies, and the Islamic Republic has used it in the past to comment on broad foreign policy matters.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Russia, which sees Tehran as a key ally in the Middle East, has positioned itself as a link between the Islamic Republic and the West in key disputes, especially over Iran's nuclear energy programme which the West suspects could mask atomic arms plans.
Russia has long defended Iran's right to develop peaceful atomic projects and is co-operating in building a nuclear power plant in Iran.
Analysts and media in Russia said Ahmadinejad's comment had seriously shaken Moscow's resolve to protect its ally against a possible referral over its nuclear programme to the Security Council, where Russia has a permanent, veto-wielding seat.
Officials and analysts in Tehran have played down the remarks by Ahmadinejad, a former member of the hardline Revolutionary Guards and traditional religious conservative.
They have said the comments did not mark the start of a new, more aggressive stance towards Israel and that Tehran was not seeking confrontation with the West.
The Tehran demonstrations, which also took place in other parts of Iran, were organised by Islamic hardliners to mark "Qods Day" (Jerusalem Day), which the Islamic republic observes on the last Friday of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan.
Soldiers, civil servants and women wearing head-to-toe black chadors joined the demonstration.
"Ahmadinejad talks on behalf of all Iranians. We are ready to die for Palestine," said Mohammad Mirzayi, 25, a hardline volunteer member of the Basiji militia which enforces social restrictions such as Islamic dress codes for women.
© Reuters 2005.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-10-28T124834Z_01_HOL724007_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAN-ISRAEL.xml
posted by JimG at 11:36 AM
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