Posted on 04/14/2006 10:41:20 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
TEHRAN, Iran - The president of Iran again lashed out at Israel on Friday and said it was "heading toward annihilation," just days after Tehran raised fears about its nuclear activities by saying it successfully enriched uranium for the first time.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a "permanent threat" to the Middle East that will "soon" be liberated. He also appeared to again question whether the Holocaust really happened.
"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation," Ahmadinejad said at the opening of a conference in support of the Palestinians. "The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."
Ahmadinejad provoked a world outcry in 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."
"The existence of this (Israeli) regime is a permanent threat" to the Middle East, he added. "Its existence has harmed the dignity of Islamic nations."
The three-day conference on Palestine is being attended by officials of Hamas, the ruling party in the Palestinian territories.
Iran has previously said it will give money to the Palestinian Authority to make up for the withdrawal of donations by Western nations who object to Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence. But no figure has been published.
On Tuesday, Ahmadinejad 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 weapons.
The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity.
The U.N. Security Council has given Iran until April 28 to cease enrichment. But Iran has rejected the demand.
The chief of Israeli military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, was quoted Wednesday as saying Iran could develop a nuclear bomb "within three years, by the end of the decade."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, delivers a speech in a conference for supporting the Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 14, 2006. Ahmadinejad called Israel a 'rotten, dried tree' that will be annihiliated by 'one storm.' (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Haaretz article thread posted earlier
Iranian president: 'Rotten' Israel will be annihilated by 'one storm' ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615091/posts
I wonder if Vegas is giving odds on this.
Why not just "do it" and get Himself & His country over & done with?
I think a certain mad mullah is the one heading toward annihilation.
The Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seen here in March 2006, used a pro-Palestinian conference in Tehran to rally support from Islamic nations for the cash-strapped, Hamas-led Palestinian government.(AFP/File)
A Palestinian boy brandishes a toy gun during a rally in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, April 14, 2006. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Friday financial pressure from an 'unholy alliance' led by the United States will not bring down the new Hamas government. REUTERS/Mustafa Abu Dayeh
Olmert's response will be to remove more settlers
President Vladimir Putin, right, toasts Palestinian Authority ambassador Baker Abdel Monem, left, with ambassadors Christopher Elder, second left, of New Zealand and Izzat Saad El Sayed of Egypt, in the background, during a ceremony of receiving credentials in Moscow's Kremlin, Thursday, April 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Alexander Natruskin, Pool)
If Iran launches on Israel, I think the retaliation against Iran ought to be so swift and sure that it will be years before the place can ever again threaten anyone.
Syria must also be addressed at the same time to truly be effective in making a counter-statement to this lunacy.
You Got It!
This is a declaration of war and threat to exterminate a nation.
The threatened nation is within its rights to destroy the aggressor nation in a preemptive strike.
This is your legacy, Jimmy Carter. Aren't you proud?
Screw the committee that gave the Nobel Peace Prize to the man who allowed violent fanatics to come to power in Iran and develop a nuclear program, but denied it to the man who ended the Cold War.
Give me a break. Iran doesn't give a crap about the Palestenians. None of the middle eastern leaders do. This is just an excuse.
Amadgonad just wants to stir the pot. I really think he is trying to provoke a response.
Which makes me wonder. What does he have up his sleeve here. He seems to be looking for a means to justify some action he wishes to take.
I read that he was also going on about what a threat Israel is to the region. Israel has totally withdrawn from any direct confrontations with the rest of the region. So it's more insanity. But yes, Israel could decide to take them out rather than wait for Iran to give a nuke to some terrorist for use in Tel Aviv.
The man just doesn't know how to win friends and influence people.
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