Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that Israel posed a serious threat to the Islamic world, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a pro-Palestinian conference in Tehran to rally support from Islamic states for the cash-strapped Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, Ahmadinejad said that "the Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat.”
"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," he added.
However, the Iranian leader predicted that the “Zionist regime is on the road to being eliminated.” He also said that the land of Palestine, referring to British mandated territory that includes all of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, "will be freed soon."
Last year, Ahmadinejad caused an international outcry by calling for Israel to “be wiped off the map” and by saying that the Holocaust is a “myth”.
But the Iranian leader seemed unfazed by critics from the European Union and the United States, who are also stepping up pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program especially after its recent announcement that it successfully enriched uranium to a level used in power stations and that it will move toward large-scale enrichment.
"If there is serious doubt over the Holocaust, there is no doubt over the catastrophe and Holocaust being faced by the Palestinians," Ahmadinejad said.
"I tell the governments who support Zionism to ... let the migrants (Jews) return to their countries of origin. If you think you owe them something, give them some of your land," he said.
In his speech, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Washington of conspiring against his country, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon in order to place the Middle East under Israeli control.
"The plots by the American government against Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon aimed at governing the Middle East with the control of the Zionist regime will not succeed," Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to AFP.
"If, by accident, the American government saw reason, it would respect the wish of the Iraqi people to form its government, respect the Palestinian government, free the prisoners of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, cease the conspiracy (and) not create tension in the Persian Gulf region," he added.
Ayatollah Khamenei also urged Muslim countries to help the Hamas-led Palestinian government following a decision by the U.S. and EU to cut financial aid.
"The Islamic world cannot remain indifferent and silent to tyranny," he said.
"Your martyrs are our martyrs. Your pain is our pain," he said of the Palestinians. "Islamic nations have the duty to help you in every possible way, and help you along this blessed path."
Agencies
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