Iran says anti-Israel diatribe is “deliberate strategy”

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 03 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad renewed his call for the “removal” of Israel from the Middle East on Tuesday and said his string of attacks on the Jewish state and denial of the Holocaust were part of a “deliberate strategy” aimed at winning the hearts and minds of young Muslims. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 03 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad renewed his call for the “removal” of Israel from the Middle East on Tuesday and said his string of attacks on the Jewish state and denial of the Holocaust were part of a “deliberate strategy” aimed at winning the hearts and minds of young Muslims.

“Some in Iran and abroad thought that we were making these speeches without a specific plan and policy, but we have been pursuing a deliberate strategy in this regards”, the Iranian president told a group of Islamist student activists, according to the Persian-language website Khedmat, which was launched by Ahmadinejad’s campaign team during the presidential elections last year and continues to be run by his aides.

“The wave [that these speeches created”> has a lot of supporters among young people in the Muslim world and it will continue to move forward”, Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad told a joint meeting of his cabinet and Majlis deputies on Tuesday, “Those who defend today the crimes of the Zionists must be held accountable and sentenced. Of course, they claim that they are very strong, but this is one of their big lies”.

“The revival of Islam is whipping the frail body of the Global Hegemon”, Ahmadinejad said in a reference to the United States. “This Global Hegemon will soon be toppled”.

Ahmadinejad, who has been a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, told the Majlis deputies that is was “unbearable” to witness “international butchers” make accusations against the Islamic Republic.

He rejected the authority of a United Nations mandate that declared the state of Israel to be legitimate.

“You who claim that there was a Holocaust are today repeating such a thing in Palestine”, Ahmadinejad said, adding that Tehran did not fear retribution for its stance.

Ahmadinejad had recently called the Holocaust a “myth” and said that Israel must be “wiped off the map”.

“We do not fear their screams. The more they shout, the more they show their own weaknesses”, Ahmadinejad said in reference to the international condemnation his comments received.

His remarks were twice condemned by the United Nations Security Council.