Iran says they will help any organization attack Israel!
Interesting Article: "We'll back any nation fighting Zionist regime" by Reuters / Tehran published Friday, February 3rd, 2012
An interesting article mentioned that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that Iran would support any nation that wants to confront Israel. "I have no fear of saying that we will back and help any nation or group that wants to confront and fight against the Zionist regime (Israel),” He also stated that the Islamic Republic would not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear course, threatening retaliation for sanctions aimed at Iran's oil exports. Want to know more?
Khamenei's defiant speech to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the first direct response to tighter sanctions imposed by the West in recent weeks to force Tehran to abandon a nuclear program it says has purely peaceful ends. Khamenei added that any US military strike against Iran would backfire and that the "painful and crippling" Western sanctions would only increase the resilience of Iran. Earlier in the day, OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said that Iran has created a stockpile of enriched uranium that could be used to manufacture four nuclear weapons. Israel’s increased threats came as The Washington Post reported that US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta believes Israel will attack Iran in April, May or June.
According to the report, written by the paper’s senior opinion writer David Ignatius, Panetta is concerned that Israel will attack before Iran enters the so-called “immunity zone” when its nuclear facilities will be heavily fortified and a military strike will no longer succeed. The Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also issued an unusually blunt warning that Iran would support militant groups opposing Israel, in what some analysts said could be held up by Israel as a casus belli. Ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks, delivered from Tehran University, were his most public response to the mounting tensions between Western powers and Iran in recent weeks. United States Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, in comments on Friday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, echoed a similar sentiment.
“My view is that right now the most important thing is to keep the international community unified in keeping that pressure on, to try to convince Iran that they shouldn’t develop a nuclear weapon, that they should join the international family of nations and that they should operate by the rules that we all operate by,” he said. “But I have to tell you, if they don’t, we have all options on the table, and we’ll be prepared to respond if we have to.” The atomic agency, which is the nuclear proliferation monitor of the United Nations, has long tried to get Tehran to address what it calls evidence of the “military dimensions” of Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran has repeatedly dismissed the evidence as fabricated or taken out of context, and had refused to engage in substantive discussions or inspections. Israel's large-scale military incursion against Hamas in 2008-09 in Gaza ended in a ceasefire, with Israel claiming to have inflicted heavy damage on the militant organization.
The war in Lebanon ended with a UN-brokered truce that sent thousands of Lebanese troops and international peacekeepers into southern Lebanon to prevent another outbreak. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said he wasn't surprised by Khamenei's remarks. "It's the same kind of hate speech that we've been seeing from Iran for many years now," Yigal Palmor said. Another potential military flashpoint is the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Iran has threatened to close the strait in response to US and EU sanctions targeting the country's oil exports.
Khamenei warned that Iran might reveal a letter that it claims to have received from President Obama, which he implied contained promises that Washington had not offered. An Iranian politician claimed in January that Obama had asked for direct talks with Iran in a secret letter, which also warned Tehran against closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Obama administration officials have denied there was such a letter. Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic relations after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Half of Khamenei's nearly two-hour speech was delivered in Arabic, an apparent nod to the Arab world. Iran has applauded the victory of Islamist groups in elections in 2011 and 2012 following the toppling of authoritarian regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.
References:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/world/middleeast/irans-supreme-leader-threatens-retaliation-against-attack.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/khamenei-iran-to-aid-anyone-confronting-israel-116/2012/02/03/gIQAQmBBnQ_video.html
An interesting article mentioned that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that Iran would support any nation that wants to confront Israel. "I have no fear of saying that we will back and help any nation or group that wants to confront and fight against the Zionist regime (Israel),” He also stated that the Islamic Republic would not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear course, threatening retaliation for sanctions aimed at Iran's oil exports. Want to know more?
Khamenei's defiant speech to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the first direct response to tighter sanctions imposed by the West in recent weeks to force Tehran to abandon a nuclear program it says has purely peaceful ends. Khamenei added that any US military strike against Iran would backfire and that the "painful and crippling" Western sanctions would only increase the resilience of Iran. Earlier in the day, OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said that Iran has created a stockpile of enriched uranium that could be used to manufacture four nuclear weapons. Israel’s increased threats came as The Washington Post reported that US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta believes Israel will attack Iran in April, May or June.
According to the report, written by the paper’s senior opinion writer David Ignatius, Panetta is concerned that Israel will attack before Iran enters the so-called “immunity zone” when its nuclear facilities will be heavily fortified and a military strike will no longer succeed. The Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also issued an unusually blunt warning that Iran would support militant groups opposing Israel, in what some analysts said could be held up by Israel as a casus belli. Ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks, delivered from Tehran University, were his most public response to the mounting tensions between Western powers and Iran in recent weeks. United States Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, in comments on Friday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, echoed a similar sentiment.
“My view is that right now the most important thing is to keep the international community unified in keeping that pressure on, to try to convince Iran that they shouldn’t develop a nuclear weapon, that they should join the international family of nations and that they should operate by the rules that we all operate by,” he said. “But I have to tell you, if they don’t, we have all options on the table, and we’ll be prepared to respond if we have to.” The atomic agency, which is the nuclear proliferation monitor of the United Nations, has long tried to get Tehran to address what it calls evidence of the “military dimensions” of Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran has repeatedly dismissed the evidence as fabricated or taken out of context, and had refused to engage in substantive discussions or inspections. Israel's large-scale military incursion against Hamas in 2008-09 in Gaza ended in a ceasefire, with Israel claiming to have inflicted heavy damage on the militant organization.
The war in Lebanon ended with a UN-brokered truce that sent thousands of Lebanese troops and international peacekeepers into southern Lebanon to prevent another outbreak. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said he wasn't surprised by Khamenei's remarks. "It's the same kind of hate speech that we've been seeing from Iran for many years now," Yigal Palmor said. Another potential military flashpoint is the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Iran has threatened to close the strait in response to US and EU sanctions targeting the country's oil exports.
Khamenei warned that Iran might reveal a letter that it claims to have received from President Obama, which he implied contained promises that Washington had not offered. An Iranian politician claimed in January that Obama had asked for direct talks with Iran in a secret letter, which also warned Tehran against closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Obama administration officials have denied there was such a letter. Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic relations after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Half of Khamenei's nearly two-hour speech was delivered in Arabic, an apparent nod to the Arab world. Iran has applauded the victory of Islamist groups in elections in 2011 and 2012 following the toppling of authoritarian regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.
References:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/world/middleeast/irans-supreme-leader-threatens-retaliation-against-attack.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/khamenei-iran-to-aid-anyone-confronting-israel-116/2012/02/03/gIQAQmBBnQ_video.html
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