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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (AP file)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners December 17, 2005 |
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Controversial remarks by Iran's Jew-baiting president describing the Nazi Holocaust as a "myth" and demanding Israel's destruction are not just wild comments by an inexperienced hard-liner, but part of a government strategy to keep anti-Israel sentiment alive in the Middle East, analysts said Saturday.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose anti-Israeli stance has sparked international condemnation and raised tensions in an already volatile region, is believed to be trying to revive the radical fervor of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, which lost ground during the eight years of rule by a moderate Iranian government before he took office in August.
"The man is still living in 1979 and believes Iran represents a revolution more than just a state," said Mustafa Alani, director of security studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "He believes (verbally) attacking Israel, which was a key principal of the revolution, will serve Iranian interests in the region more than polite, rational policies."
Ahmadinejad caused an international outcry in October by calling Israel a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."
Heads of state around the world condemned him in recent days for calling the Holocaust a "myth" and saying Palestinians should not be made to suffer for crimes committed against Jews by Europeans, suggesting Israel be moved to Europe or North America.
There are moves now to ban Iran from the upcoming World Cup games in Germany. While FIFA has rejected calls to prevent the Iranians from participating, Germans and other Europeans say that it is acceptable for a country led by a Holocaust denying president who calls for genocide against the Jews to field a team in the sporting event.
And the Iranian president's rejection of U.S.-led calls to curb his country's contentious nuclear program have only raised suspicions in the West that Iran wants to build atomic weapons. Despite Iran's repeated denials of such claims, Israeli officials and politicians have openly discussed the possibility of attacking Iran to cripple its nuclear development capabilities.
Pro-democracy reformers -- and some conservatives -- in Iran say his words are only harming their country, but Ahmadinejad is still finding backing for his anti-Israeli rhetoric from extremists within the hard-line camp, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"His comments have seriously tarnished the image of a great nation in the world," said reformist writer Ahmad Zeidabadi, who described Ahmadinejad as Iran's real enemy.
Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, has implicitly supported Ahmadinejad, saying armed resistance, not negotiation, is the way to deal with Israel.
"There is no doubt that the president is acting in close coordination with the leader," hard-line lawmaker Emad Afrouq said. "Ahmadinejad is the closest president to Khamenei in the last 16 years."
Afrouq explained that the president's comments were "part of a strategy" to influence international public opinion about Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, not to lay plans for an eventual attack on the Jewish state.
"The bottom line is he wants to keep anti-Israeli sentiments alive," Afrouq said. "He even doesn't think of military action."
Some see Ahmadinejad's rhetoric may as part of a policy to boost his weak standing in Iran's complicated power structure, segments of which have attacked the new president on basic domestic issues such as unemployment and the economy.
"He wants to reinforce his position," said analyst Saeed Leilaz. "Rhetoric against Israel is the only thing he can say without strong challenge."
The European Union has been trying to persuade Iran to permanently end its uranium enrichment program, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or atomic bomb.
Tehran has repeatedly said it won't give up its right to produce nuclear fuel under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, raising the possibility of being referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
Hard-line Iranian group Yavar, which has been searching for four Iranian diplomats missing in Lebanon since the early 1980s who they believe were kidnapped by Israel, told Ahmadinejad that it was ready to act against Israel.
"We support your excellency's remarks (and) ... announce our readiness to endanger the interests of the usurper regime (Israel) all over the world," Reza Aghanouri, head of the nongovernment group, told Ahmadinejad in a statement issued Saturday.
But fellow conservative, university professor Mahmoud Kashani, said Ahmadinejad's foreign policy stances on Israel and the nuclear program are creating enemies, not friends, for Iran.
"People in the capital Tehran can't breathe because of high air pollution and the economy is in tatters," said Kashani, a one-time presidential candidate. "Ahmadinejad's job is to solve these problems, not create tension in foreign relations."
European leaders warned Saturday that Iran could face sanctions if it keeps provoking Israel and the West, even as the Tehran regime's interior minister said the Iranian president's remarks had been "misunderstood."
European leaders said Ahmadinejad's remarks were the latest "provocative political moves" from Tehran since May.
"These comments are wholly unacceptable and have no place in civilized political debate," the leaders said in a summit statement Saturday.
EU leaders warned Tehran they would review diplomatic options for possible sanctions against Iran.
The condemnation came as Iran prepares to resume talks Wednesday with European envoys over its nuclear program, which the EU and United States fear is intended to build atomic weapons. Envoys from Britain, Germany and France are trying to get Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.
"I haven't seen any evidence that Iran is interested in a deal that is going to be acceptable to an international community that is extremely skeptical of what the Iranians are up to," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press in Washington.
Rice predicted the United States would have enough votes at the U.N. Security Council to impose international sanctions against Iran but hinted she was waiting for other nations to join such an effort.
EU leaders warned that the bloc was losing patience in mediating the standoff. "The window of opportunity will not remain open indefinitely."
The leaders said they were "gravely concerned at Iran's failure to build confidence that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful."
EU leaders reaffirmed Israel's right to exist, noting that "all members of the United Nations have undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
But Iran continued its verbal assault against Israel, with the defense minister saying in Tehran that any Israeli attack would provoke a "destructive" response.
The AP contributed to this report.
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