WorldTribune.com
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
Iran's Rafsanjani suggests nuclear attack on Israel
----------------------------------
One of Iran's most
influential ruling clerics called on the Muslim
states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them
that while such an attack would annihilate Israel,
it would cost them "damages
only".
The speech by former Iranian President
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani failed to catch the attention
of the western press but made waves in the Middle East.
" If a day comes when the world
of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has
in its 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 damages in the Muslim world",
Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told
the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.
Analysts told the
Iranian Press Service that Rafsanjani's speech marks
the first time a prominent leader of the Islamic
Republic had openly suggested the use of nuclear
weapon against the Jewish State. Rafsanjani advised
Western states not to pin their hopes on Israel's
violence because it will be "very
dangerous".
" We are not willing to see security
in the world is harmed", he said, warning that
a war "of the pious and martyrdom seeking forces
against peaks of colonialism will be highly dangerous
and might fan flames of World War III."
Rafsanjani, who, as
the Chairman of the Assembly to Discern the interests
of the State, is the Islamic Republic's number two
man after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was speaking
on "International
Qods (Jerusalem) Day" which is celebrated in Iran
only.
