Aznar: Iran’s #1 Priority is “Setting Israel on Fire”
Charles Johnson
Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 2:13 pm PST • Views: 454
Iran’s “supreme leader,” the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar in 2001 that Iran’s number one priority was “setting Israel on fire.” (Hat tip: mich-again.)
Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar said Tuesday that Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told him five years ago that “setting Israel on fire” was the first order of business on the Iranian agenda.
Aznar, in Israel as the guest of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, related the story to Major General (Res.) Professor Yitzhak Ben-Israel, who later confirmed to Haaretz that the remarks had been made. Aznar’s aides refused to give Haaretz the exact quote, but mentioned an article Aznar has written in the past on his meeting with Khamenei.
“He received me politely,” Aznar wrote, “and at the beginning of the meeting he explained to me why Iran must declare war on Israel and the United States until they are completely destroyed. I made only one request of him: that he tell me the time of the planned attack.”
Frank says: