Ahmadinejad comments were made during a meeting with protesting students at Iran's Interior Ministry.
He quoted a remark from Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, that
Israel "must be wiped out from the map of the world."
The president then said: "
And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism," according to a quote published by Iran's state news outlet, the Islamic Republic News Agency.
In December 2001, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president and still powerful political figure, laid the groundwork for an exchange of nuclear weapons with Israel: "
If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel but the same thing would just produce minor damages in the Muslim world."
In like spirit, a Shahab-3 ballistic missile (capable of reaching Israel) paraded in Tehran last month bore the slogan
"Israel Should Be Wiped Off the Map."
Ever since Ayatollah Khomeini took over iran the call has been to wipe Israel off the map and to destroy the Great Satan = United States. That has been over 27 years.
they are consistent about what thier goals are.
Now we are bogged down in Iraq because we said Iraq was a nuclear threat, while the real nuclear and terrorist supporters get a walk.....
If Israel attacks Iraq which is a
possibility, then what happens to the terrorist movement in Iraq? I would venture an opinion that it would due to muslim sympathy for Iran and a chance to get back at the 'Great Satan".
While European and western nations have condemned the Iranian president's remarks, the Arab and Muslim world has been largely silent. Only Turkey, a Muslim but secular state, has called for Mr Ahmadinejad to withdraw his comments.
its the final round in Atomic Jeporady for the contestants and the clock is ticking.... tick tock.