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Last update - 19:41 14/04/2006
Iranian president: 'Rotten' Israel will be annihilated by 'one storm'
By News Agencies

TEHRAN - Days after announcing that Iran had successfully enriched uranium, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday called Israel a "rotten, dried tree" that will be annihilated by "one storm."

Opening of a conference in Tehran on supporting the Palestinians, Ahmadinejad fired a series of verbal shots at Israel, saying it was a "permanent threat" to the Middle East that will "soon" be liberated, and again questioning the validity of the Nazi Holocaust against Jews in World War II.

"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihiliation," Ahmadinejad said. "The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm," he said.

"The existence of the Zionist regime is tantamount to an imposition of an unending and unrestrained threat so that none of the nations and Islamic countries of the region and beyond can feel secure from its threat," Ahmadinejad said.

The president provoked a world outcry last October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map." On Friday, he repeated his previous line on the Holocaust, saying: "If such a disaster is true, why should the people of this region pay the price? Why does the Palestinian nation have to be suppressed and have its land occupied?"

The land of Palestine, he said, referring to the British mandated territory that includes all of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, "will be freed soon."

He did not say how this would be achieved, but insisted to the audience of at least 900 people: "Believe that Palestine will be freed soon."

In February, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had said Ahmadinejad's October 2005 comments had been misunderstood and that he had been speaking about the Israeli "regime," not the country. Mottaki had said a country could not be removed from the map.

The president spoke days after two Israeli generals spoke of the military potential of Iran's nuclear program. (For more on Iran, read the Iran Time Saver on Rosner's Domain)

The chief of Israeli military intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin, was quoted Wednesday as saying Iran could develop a nuclear bomb "within three years, by the end of the decade."

The day before Ahmadinejad had announced that Iran had successfully enriched uranium using a battery of 164 centrifuges, a significant step toward the large-scale production of enriched uranium required for either fueling nuclear reactors or making nuclear bombs.

The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build an atomic bomb. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity.

The United Nations Security Council has given Iran until April 28 to cease enrichment. But Iran has rejected the demand.

Khamenei calls on Islamic world to back Hamas against Israel
Also Friday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the Islamic world to support Hamas and its resistance against Israel.

"The Islamic world is obliged to help [Hamas] in all possible ways and support continuation of this holy path [of resistance against Israel]," Khamenei said in the opening ceremony of the conference.

One of the main aims of the international conference is to raise funds for the Palestinian Authority, which has lost much of its international aid since Hamas formed the new Palestinian government. Hamas refuses to renounce violence, accept Israel's right to exist or abide by peace agreements signed by the previous PA government.

The Ayatollah called on the United States and the West to respect the democratically-elected government in Palestine and control Israeli aggression.

"Like the U.S. failed in gaining victory in Iraq, the Americans will also fail in realizing their aim of a Zionist-dominated Middle East," said Khamenei, who constitutionally has the final say on all state affairs in Iran.

Iran is a fierce supporter of Hamas and had termed the group's victory in last January's parliamentary elections as "Palestinians' democratic choice for resistance."