Israel Matzav

Ahmadinejad: Israel 'dead' and a 'disintegrating regime,' US 'bound to become extinct,' calls for takeover of British embassy

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on the Iranian News Channel IRINN on May 15, 2008. Let's go to the videotape. A transcript follows.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Today, certain people are about to convene in occupied Palestine, in order to celebrate its anniversary. They believe that by doing so, they are strengthening this disintegrating regime. However, the whole world will come to understand that holding these ceremonies is a sign of the weakness, the backwardness, and the disintegration of this regime. Otherwise, why didn't they celebrate this regime's 50th or 55th anniversary? Why did they come up with this idea now? Let me tell you, celebrating a dead man's birthday won't improve his condition one bit. This dead man will not be resurrected by all those people who are about to convene there.

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There is a group of terrorists and criminals who came according to a plan, with the support of foreigners, and who have no roots in Palestine. Sooner or later, they will be driven out by the people of Palestine.

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The Zionist regime, American officials, and some British elements have declared that they want to assassinate senior Iranian officials. They said that they authorized and planned these terror attacks in Iran. They stated it. A short while later, that cowardly crime was perpetrated in Shiraz.

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You can be sure that the hand of God and the wrath of the peoples will grab you by the throat.

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The only country that refrains from intervening in Lebanon is Iran. Who are the people who make phone calls, and give support and encouragement? The ambassador of which country is fleeing [Lebanon]? Mr. Bush declared that when Prime Minister Siniora announced the provocative decisions that generated the events in Lebanon, the U.S. ambassador was sitting next to him [Siniora]. So who's intervening in Lebanese affairs?

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Mr. Bush, why do you think the Lebanese people cannot manage its own affairs? You sit there, making phone calls, delivering messages, leveling accusations at various people, and your ambassador dictates decisions. You've got the wrong impression. There might be a handful of people who will accept and obey what you say, but no nation will ever succumb to your dictates. In Lebanon, you are confronting the Lebanese people. Make no mistake. If you think you are facing Syria, Iran, or just one group [Hizbullah], your failures are bound to continue. Take it from me. Acknowledge the legitimate rights of the Lebanese people, and their right to manage their own affairs. Let them negotiate among themselves and find their own solutions. Why are you inciting them? Why did you arm a specific group and start a war? Who will be held accountable for all the blood that has been shed? We believe that what is happening today in Lebanon is a sequel to the barbaric Zionist campaign. They failed to accomplish their goals by the war, so they are trying to achieve them by instigating civil strife. We declare that they will fail, just as they failed in their military campaign.

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You should know that we are not offended by your accusations. On the contrary, they make us happy, because this shows us just how helpless and defeated you are, and how deficient and mistaken your analysis of the political environment is. This makes us confident that you are of a kind bound to become extinct. We say this loud and clear.

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Iranian journalist Marduchi: All our lives we have been confronting the aging hyena and cunning fox of England. This ageing hyena incites the bull – in other words, the Americans – and spreads misery and humiliation throughout the world. I'd like to ask you – and this, of course, will require the permission of Ayatollah Khamenei, the distinguished leader of the revolution... Just like the late Imam [Khomeini] sealed the American den of spies, the Iranian people expects Ayatollah Khamenei, by means of your [government], to shut down the den of corruption, conspiracy, and rebellion, known as the British embassy, so that we, the people, will be saved from the English conspiracies and rebellion. I'd like to know what's your take on that.

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Thank you very much, Mr. Marduchi, for your sincere sentiments. They should listen carefully to the heartfelt voices of our people. This is how our people remember [the British] conduct. Last year, they told us they would like to clear their record. We welcomed this and said: Go ahead. It is the same thing wherever you go. It is not unique to the Iranian people. Go to Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Sudan, Indonesia, or China – in some countries more, and in some countries less... This is what the people are saying. Mr. Marduchi wanted to express the sentiments of our people with regard to your immoral conduct.

By the way, regarding the one issue in this entire rambling speech which is at all factual - the explosion that happened a couple of weeks ago in a mosque in Shiraz - the local police have concluded that the explosion was not sabotage.

Commander Ali Moayyeri told IRNA that negligence may have been the cause of the explosion, considering that an exhibition of the Sacred Defense (the 1980-88 Iraq-imposed war) achievements had recently been held at the site.

"The explosives left over from the exhibition may have led to the occurrence of the blast," he said.

The official rejected speculations that the incident was an act of subversion.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Abbas Mohtaj confirmed that the explosion had been an accident, and not an attack.

At least 11 people have reportedly been killed and 191 more injured when an explosion occurred at 'Rahpouyan-e Vesal' cultural and religious center Saturday evening in the southern city of Shiraz, the capital of Iran's Fars province. The explosion occurred in the men's section of the center.

But Ahmadinejad would never let the facts get in the way of any of his speeches, would he?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:14 PM