May - No Longer Any Doubt What Iran's Rulers Want
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Clifford May-
A few days earlier, during a presentation at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jose Maria Aznar, former prime minister of Spain, recalled a "private discussion" in Tehran in October 2000 with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who told him: "Israel must be burned to the ground and made to disappear from the face of the Earth."
Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. who now heads the respected JCPA think tank, wanted to be certain there was no misunderstanding. He asked Aznar: Was Khamenei suggesting "a gradual historical process involving the collapse of the Zionist state, or rather its physical-military termination?"
"He meant physical termination through military force," Aznar said. Khamenei called Israel "an historical cancer" an echo of Nazi rhetoric he has employed on numerous occasions, the last time in public on Feb. 3.
Khamenei also told Aznar that the goal of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has remained constant: To rid the world of two evils -- Israel and the U.S. Eventually, there must be an "open confrontation." Khamenei said it was his duty is to ensure that Iran prevails, Aznar said.
With this as context, it is no longer possible to pretend that the acquisition of nuclear weapons is not a priority for Khamenei. The notion that he is merely making as Reuters charmingly phrases it "a peaceful bid to generate electricity," or has not decided whether he wants nuclear weapons, or wants them only as a deterrent because he fears foreign aggressors, or has issued a fatwa declaring possession of nuclear weapons a sin, or favors diplomatic conflict resolution but requires a series of "confidence-building measures" all that is wishful thinking and self-delusion, if not blatant disinformation.
Besides being committed to war, genocide and developing nuclear weapons, Iran's rulers are the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, and have long been so-designated by the U.S. government. They support Hezbollah and Hamas, and collaborate with al-Qaida evidence of that is abundant. They have been responsible for killing Americans in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. They have violated the most fundamental tenets of international law, including seizing the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, ordering the murder of a British novelist in 1989, and plotting to bomb a restaurant in Washington, D.C. last year.
Khamenei's representatives have agreed to negotiate with the P5-plus-1 the U.S. and the four other permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany for one reason only: They want an end to the sanctions that have been debilitating, if not yet crippling, Iran's economy.
Testifying before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last week, Mark Dubowitz, my colleague at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned Congress that Iran's negotiators will offer concessions that sound meaningful but are not, in exchange for Western concessions that sound trivial but amount to capitulation.
Dubowitz cautioned that it will require vigorous Congressional oversight to make sure that Western diplomats do not provide Iran with "sanctions relief in the shadows" insurance, energy, financial and shipping-related sanctions that have already passed into law will fail to be strictly enforced in order to keep "the process" going. That will be seen as preferable to acknowledging diplomatic failure. The major media are likely to miss this or misreport it.
In his presentation in Jerusalem, Aznar recalled also a meeting he had with Vladimir Putin, in which he advised the Russian president against selling surface-to-air missiles to Iran. "Don't worry I, you we can sell them everything, even if we are worried by an Iranian nuclear bomb," Aznar quoted Putin as saying. "Because at the end of the day, Israel will take care of it."
Aznar told this story in Washington about a year ago but, at the time, he asked those of us in the room to keep it off the record. I remember that he added incredulously: "But that's the Russian policy? To let Israel take care of it?"
If, in the days ahead, this becomes the de-facto policy of the U.S. and Europe as well, we should not pretend we don't know that -- or that we don't understand the profound implications.[[In-content Ad]]
A few days earlier, during a presentation at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jose Maria Aznar, former prime minister of Spain, recalled a "private discussion" in Tehran in October 2000 with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who told him: "Israel must be burned to the ground and made to disappear from the face of the Earth."
Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. who now heads the respected JCPA think tank, wanted to be certain there was no misunderstanding. He asked Aznar: Was Khamenei suggesting "a gradual historical process involving the collapse of the Zionist state, or rather its physical-military termination?"
"He meant physical termination through military force," Aznar said. Khamenei called Israel "an historical cancer" an echo of Nazi rhetoric he has employed on numerous occasions, the last time in public on Feb. 3.
Khamenei also told Aznar that the goal of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has remained constant: To rid the world of two evils -- Israel and the U.S. Eventually, there must be an "open confrontation." Khamenei said it was his duty is to ensure that Iran prevails, Aznar said.
With this as context, it is no longer possible to pretend that the acquisition of nuclear weapons is not a priority for Khamenei. The notion that he is merely making as Reuters charmingly phrases it "a peaceful bid to generate electricity," or has not decided whether he wants nuclear weapons, or wants them only as a deterrent because he fears foreign aggressors, or has issued a fatwa declaring possession of nuclear weapons a sin, or favors diplomatic conflict resolution but requires a series of "confidence-building measures" all that is wishful thinking and self-delusion, if not blatant disinformation.
Besides being committed to war, genocide and developing nuclear weapons, Iran's rulers are the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, and have long been so-designated by the U.S. government. They support Hezbollah and Hamas, and collaborate with al-Qaida evidence of that is abundant. They have been responsible for killing Americans in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. They have violated the most fundamental tenets of international law, including seizing the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, ordering the murder of a British novelist in 1989, and plotting to bomb a restaurant in Washington, D.C. last year.
Khamenei's representatives have agreed to negotiate with the P5-plus-1 the U.S. and the four other permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany for one reason only: They want an end to the sanctions that have been debilitating, if not yet crippling, Iran's economy.
Testifying before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last week, Mark Dubowitz, my colleague at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned Congress that Iran's negotiators will offer concessions that sound meaningful but are not, in exchange for Western concessions that sound trivial but amount to capitulation.
Dubowitz cautioned that it will require vigorous Congressional oversight to make sure that Western diplomats do not provide Iran with "sanctions relief in the shadows" insurance, energy, financial and shipping-related sanctions that have already passed into law will fail to be strictly enforced in order to keep "the process" going. That will be seen as preferable to acknowledging diplomatic failure. The major media are likely to miss this or misreport it.
In his presentation in Jerusalem, Aznar recalled also a meeting he had with Vladimir Putin, in which he advised the Russian president against selling surface-to-air missiles to Iran. "Don't worry I, you we can sell them everything, even if we are worried by an Iranian nuclear bomb," Aznar quoted Putin as saying. "Because at the end of the day, Israel will take care of it."
Aznar told this story in Washington about a year ago but, at the time, he asked those of us in the room to keep it off the record. I remember that he added incredulously: "But that's the Russian policy? To let Israel take care of it?"
If, in the days ahead, this becomes the de-facto policy of the U.S. and Europe as well, we should not pretend we don't know that -- or that we don't understand the profound implications.[[In-content Ad]]
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