Tens of thousands of Iranians staged anti-Israel protests across the country yesterday and repeated calls by their ultraconservative president demanding the Jewish state's destruction.
World leaders condemned remarks made on Wednesday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who repeated the words of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, by saying: "Israel must be wiped off the map."
Iran's Embassy in Moscow, however, tried to soften the impact of Ahmadinejad's comments, releasing a statement on Friday saying the president "did not have any intention to speak in sharp terms and engage in a conflict."
But the president joined thousands of Iranians in one of multiple street protests being held in the capital, Tehran, yesterday. Rallies were being held in other cities such as Mashad in Iran's east.
State-run TV showed Ahmadinejad surrounded by protesters, many holding banners carrying anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian slogans including "Death to Israel, death to America."
Young girls wearing head-to-toe black chadors with green headbands covered in Islamic verses chanted anti-Israeli slogans below a banner showing caricatures of US President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon
The demonstrations are being held as part of annual al-Quds -- Jerusalem -- Day protests, which were first held in 1979 after Shiite Muslim clerics took power in Iran.
The state-organized rallies are expected to grow throughout the day ahead of midday prayer sermons across Iran. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have attended previous protests.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki defended his president's comments, saying they represented Iran's long-held policy of not recognizing Israel.
"Unfortunately the Western countries have remained silent on the increasing inhuman activities of Israel," Mottaki told Associated Press Television News (APTN) during a Tehran march.
Shiite cleric Saeed Farahani also accused the West of blowing Ahmadinejad's comments out of proportion.
"They [the West] are now stressing on the president's comment about Israel and when it's finished they will stress on other issues to isolate our country," Farahani told APTN. "This is a fight between right and wrong and this fight will never end."
Countries from Britain and Russia denounced Ahmadinejad's comments. The US said the Iranian leader's hostility underscored Washington's concern over Iran's nuclear program. Israel said the Persian state should be suspended from the UN.
Iran's embassy in Moscow said that Ahmadinejad "underlined the key position of Iran, based on the necessity to hold free elections on the occupied territories."
The statement came after Moscow, a key ally of Iran, summoned the Persian state's ambassador seeking an explanation for Ahmadinejad's remarks.
Iran's seven state-run TV stations devoted coverage yesterday to programs condemning the Jewish state and praising the Palestinian resistance since the 1948 creation of Israel.
also see story:
Iran's president has bark, but his bite has limits
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
RSS