Echoing the anti-Israel rhetoric of other current and former Iranian leaders, Iran’s new president Hasan Rouhani called Israel an “old wound,” in comments published just two days ahead of his inauguration.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency said Rouhani spoke after taking part in an annual pro-Palestine rally — International Quds Day — in Tehran on Friday.
ISNA’s original report quoted Rouhani as saying: “The Zionist regime has been a wound on the body of the Islamic world for years and the wound should be removed.” Later, though, the agency corrected its report, and said that while Rouhani said Israel occupied Arab land and that tyranny must be resisted, he did not urge Israel’s removal.
The president-elect also expressed doubts about the possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal even as the two sides resumed negotiations in Washington this week, ending a three-year freeze in Mideast talks.
“Israelis show a compromising face to the world but continue their expansionism in practice,” Rouhani said, according to Fars, another semi-official news agency.
Source: timesofisrael
Lees: Nieuwe president Iran Rouhani: Israël is wond die verwijderd moet worden
