Channels

UN Security Council
Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Photo: Reuters

Ahmadinejad: Israel, US will vanish

Ahmadinejad says Israel, US, Britain will vanish – 'this is a divine promise;' Iran demands UN Security Council condemn Israel's nuclear development, place Israel's facilities under inspection

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched another attack of Israel and it's allies the United States and Britain in a speech Wednesday morning.

 

The Iranian news agency reported that, during his speech in western Iran, the Iranian president said that the US, Britain and Israel are doomed to disappear.

 

"The aggressive forces will vanish, while the Iranian people will survive – since all who chose God will survive and those who distance themselves from God vanish like Pharaoh," said Ahmadinejad in his speech.

 

"The US, Britain, and the Zionist regime will vanish since they have distanced themselves from God. This is a divine promise," he added.

 

Ahmadinejad also referred to the international motion towards imposing sanctions on Iran for refusing to put an end to it's nuclear program. "They threaten us with punishments. But they must know that nuclear energy is the Iranian people's right, and they will insist on that right," he explained.

 

On Tuesday, Iran demanded that the UN Security Council condemn what it said was Israel's clandestine development of nuclear weapons and "compel" it to place all its nuclear facilities under UN inspection.

 

If Israel refuses to comply, Iran said the council must take "resolute action" under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which authorizes a range of measures from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military action.

 

Iran insists its own nuclear program is a purely peaceful effort to develop energy, but the United States and many European nations believe Tehran's real aim in enriching uranium is to produce nuclear weapons. The Security Council is currently debating a resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend its enrichment program.

 

Iran's UN Ambassador Javad Zarif said in identical letters to the council and the secretary-general that the council's actions would show whether it was acting under the UN Charter or as "a tool" for a few permanent members who have encouraged Israel "to persist in its lawless behavior with impunity."

 

The reference appeared aimed at the United States, Israel's closest ally, which would almost certainly veto any council resolution on Israel's nuclear program.

 

Zarif said that Israel was the only obstacle to establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East.

 

Israel has a longstanding policy of ambiguity on nuclear weapons, refusing to confirm or deny whether it has them. But in the German TV interview broadcast on December 12th, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert listed Israel among countries that possess nuclear weapons.

 

Olmert's comments — which his office said were misinterpreted — came days after Robert Gates, who took over Monday as US defense secretary, said in testimony to a Senate committee that Israel was a member of the club of nuclear armed nations.

 

Israel's UN Mission had no immediate comment on Zarif's letters.

 

The Iranian ambassador insisted in the letters, obtained by the Associated Press, that Olmert's comments were a clear admission that Israel possessed nuclear weapons in violation of international law, the UN Charter and numerous Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.20.06, 09:35
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment