'Wipe out Israel', says Iran's new president

Iran’s ultra-conservative new president yesterday broke his silence on Israel and declared the Jewish state was a “disgraceful blot” that should be ”wiped off the map”.

With these words President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set himself a foreign policy course sharply at odds with that of his moderate predecessor.

Harking back to language used by of the founder of Iran’s Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, the hard-line president also called Israel a “fabricated” entity.

His fiery words were certain to further heighten tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad also took a slap at some of Iran’s Arab neighbours in the Persian Gulf as they seek to break new ground in their relations with Israel.

“Anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury; any (Islamic leader) who recognises the Zionist regime is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world,” state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

The president was apparently addressing thousands of students during a Tehran conference called The World without Zionism.

In September, Bahrain announced it was ending a decades-old law banning trade ties with Israel. Earlier this month, Qatar said it was donating six million US dollars to help build a soccer stadium for a mixed Arab-Jewish team, the first such financial assistance by an Arab state for any town inside Israel.

The modest but unprecedented steps were seen as a response to Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September.

Yesterday, Ahmadinejad said “there is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world”.

“As the Imam (Khomeini) said, Israel must be wiped off the map.”

Ahmadinejad came to power in August and replaced Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who advocated international dialogue and tried to improve relations with the West.

“Ahmadinejad has clearly declared the doctrine of his government. He is returning Iran to the revolutionary goals it was pursuing in the 1980s,” said Mohammad Sadeq Hosseini, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs.

“By these comments, Ahmadinejad is committing himself to those goals. He is also sending the message that his government won’t back down.”

Israel has been at the forefront of nations calling and end to Iran’s nuclear programme, which the US and many others in the West say is aimed at acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Iran says the program is for generating electricity.

Iran announced earlier this year that it had fully developed solid fuel technology for missiles, a major breakthrough that increases their accuracy.

The Shahab-3, with a range of 810 miles to more than 1,200 miles is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Israel and US forces in the Middle East.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev issued a vague response.

“Today, Israelis heard two extremists speak openly about destroying the Jewish state. One was the new president of Iran, and the other was the leader of Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar.

“And it appears the problem with these extremists is that they followed through on their violent declarations with violent actions.”

The US said Ahmadinejad’s remarks proved the accuracy of Washington’s fears about Iran’s contentious nuclear programme.

“I think it reconfirms what we have been saying about the regime in Iran. It underscores the concerns we have about Iran’s nuclear intentions,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

Ebrahim Yazdi, a former Iranian foreign minister, said Ahmadinejad’s remarks harmed Iran.

“Such comments provoke the international community against us. It’s not to Iran’s interests at all. It’s harmful to Iran to make such a statement,” he said.

He said the comments gave Israel justification for urging the world to take a tougher stand against Iran and refer its nuclear programme to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iran and Israel have been bitter enemies for more than two decades – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called Israel a “cancerous tumour” that must be excised from the Middle East – but some European leaders have recently suggested that Iran would be wise to recognise Israel.

Israel had close ties with Iran when the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was in power. When the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the shah, Iran broke ties with Israel and turned the Israeli embassy in Tehran into the Palestinian Authority embassy.

Iran hosts a number of militant Palestinian groups, including Hamas, and is main backer of Hezbollah, the militant anti-Israeli Shiite Muslim organisation in Lebanon.

Israel is clearly worried about Tehran’s nuclear programme – which the US suspects is a weapons programme – and has warned it may make a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear installations similar to its 1981 bombing of an unfinished nuclear reactor in Iraq. Iran vows a crushing response if attacked.

Tehran has spread its nuclear facilities across the country and put particularly sensitive facilities underground to protect them from air attack.

Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos yesterday summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest at President Ahmadinejad’s remarks.

In a statement, Moratinos said he rejected the remarks in the strongest possible terms and had called for an urgent meeting with Iran’s ambassador in Madrid.