Israel is OK, Says Iran

Our President doesn't speak for the country or anything

Published on October 29, 2005 By singrdave In International

Iran retracted its statement that they'd like to see Israel wiped from the map. From the BBC:

Iran says it has no intention to attack Israel despite a call by its president to have it "wiped off the map". Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran respected the UN charter and had never used or threatened to use force. But it also rejected a UN Security Council statement condemning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his remarks.

Oh no, our PRESIDENT doesn't speak for the sovereign nation of Iran. We really didn't mean that. We wouldn't attack the county that's the embodiment of our sworn enemies, the Jews. As Muslims, we love Jews. NO, really we do. We certainly don't want anyone to think that our nuclear ambitions and our stated hatred of Israel have anything in common... oops, did I let that slip out?

The comments were seen by the outside world as a threat and the reaction from Iran is an effort to calm the outcry, says the BBC's Tehran correspondent. The BBC's Frances Harrison says this is the closest Iran has come to saying it will not attack Israel.

WOW, what a promise. Let's take a look back at the original statement...

"Ahead of the UN session demanded by Israel, President Ahmadinejad stood by his'just' remarks. He attended the Jerusalem Day rally in Tehran which Iran organises every year to show solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Shouting 'Death to Israel, death to the Zionists', the protesters dragged Israeli flags along the ground and set them on fire. Mr. Ahmadinejad said: 'My words were the Iranian nation's words. Westerners are free to comment, but their reactions are invalid.'"

Oh yeah, he was definitely vacillating and unsure of himself.

So my question is, are they retracting their president's statement due to an actual policy change, or due to the public outcry?

Comments

der'morat'draco

on Oct 29, 2005

lol! I for one find it quite disturbing that the president of a country calls for the eradication of a nation and still remain president. Such a remark is as close to a declaration of war as you can get without actually declaring war IMO, and the fact that the president is still sitting makes it more than his personal opinion. I don't like it one bit. Them saying they have no intention of attacking Israel is just saying that unfortunately they cannot eradicate them at this time. Disturbing.

pseudosoldier

on Oct 29, 2005

the embodiment of our sworn enemies, the Jews. As Muslims, we love Jews. NO, really we do.

It's an odd stance. I should be better read on the Qur'an than I am, but I have been told of passages that admonish good Muslims to at least tolerate "the people of the book" (read: Jews and Christians).

But I haven't witnessed everyday interaction first hand...

greywar

on Oct 30, 2005

Much like the bible and Christians, different sects of Islam have different "interpretations" of the Koran. Check out Jack Van Impe for some "interesting" interps of the Bible

Dr Guy

on Oct 30, 2005

If you had just had your head handed to you on a platter by everyone who you thought was your friend, what else could you say?

The President DOES speak for a country, and the staged demonstrations after the statement shows he is pulling the strings. This has got to be the worst coverup in the history of politics!

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