President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Europe on Friday that continued support for Israel could lead to an act of revenge by those in the Middle East angry about the Palestinians' plight.
He issued the warning at a critical time; the UN Security Council is expected to begin public deliberations next week on whether to impose sanctions on Iran for defying a UN resolution to suspend uranium-enrichment activities by the end of August.
"People in the region blame you for any crime or invasion against any country and will take revenge on you," Ahmadinejad said, addressing countries in the EU.
"You should know that the rage of people is boiling and is like an ocean that is welling up," he said in his speech at a rally in Tehran.
"Once its storm begins blowing, it will go beyond the borders of Lebanon and Palestine, and it will hurt European countries," he added, without describing what revenge would entail.
Ahmadinejad made his comments at a rally called for Je-rusalem Day, held every year on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan in support of the Palestinian struggle against Israel. Ahmadinejad told tens of thousands of demonstrators that Israel could not last long after its battle this summer against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
"Hezbollah shattered the myth that Israel is undefeatable," he said. "Now Israel has no reason to exist."
State-run television showed tens of thousands of demonstrators around the country who chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." People carried pictures of Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and burned US and Israeli flags.
In recent months, Ahmadinejad has caused international outrage by questioning the Holocaust and saying that "Israel should be wiped off the map," a slogan used often by the father of the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
On Friday, Ahmadinejad talked again about the Holocaust, saying: "Even if we assume that 6 million Jews were killed in World War II, how come you don't have sympathy for the other 54 million who were killed, too? It is not even clear who counted those you have sympathy for."
He said Israel has effectively held European countries hostage for what happened during World War II.
Television reports also showed demonstrators chanting in support of Iran's nuclear program.
Ahmadinejad repeated on Friday that Iran would not give in to international demands to suspend its uranium-enrichment program and dismissed UN efforts to impose sanctions on Iran.
"They want to use the Security Council as an instrument to put pressure on our people," he said.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president, warned Western countries that sanctions on Iran would have serious consequences.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique