Ahmadinejad Calls Israel 'Germ' Born Amid Western Bid to Dominate Mideast

Haaretz

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has resumed his verbal attacks on Israel, coining it a "filthy germ" and "savage beast" established by Western states in their bid to dominate Middle East nations.

Ahmadinejad's remarks were broadcast on Iranian television on Wednesday, just days after a top commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard called Israel a "cancerous germ" which would be wiped out by Hezbollah, Army Radio reported.

Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted by the Fars News Agency on Monday as saying: "In the near future, we will witness the destruction of the cancerous germ of Israel by the powerful and competent hands of the Hezbollah combatants."

Jafari made the comment in a letter to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, offering condolences after the killing of terrorist mastermind Imad Mughniyah, which Iran has blamed on Israel.

The Foreign Ministry sent a letter of protest to the United Nations over Jafari's remarks, Army Radio reported earlier this week.

Also this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that even after 60 years, Israel still has neither legitimacy nor any role in the Middle East, the ISNA news agency reported. "The West has tried to impose a fabricated regime on the Middle East but even after 60 years, the Zionist regime [Israel] has neither gained any legitimacy nor played any role in this region," Mottaki was quoted as saying.

Calling United States policies in the Middle East a failure, Mottaki predicted the collapse of Israel.

"The era of imposing policies on other states by military threats is over. The nations in the region will no longer surrender to any threats," he said.