ZCZC
BFF-33
IRAN-POLITICS-ARMY-ISRAEL-US-LEAD
Iran’s Rouhani calls on Mideast states to ‘drive back Zionism’
TEHRAN, April 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called
on Middle East states on Thursday to “drive back Zionism”, in an Army Day
tirade against the Islamic republic’s archfoe Israel.
Speaking flanked by top generals before troops began their annual march-
past, Rouhani also sought to reassure the region that the weaponry on display
was for defensive purposes and not a threat.
“The region’s nations have lived alongside each other for centuries and
never had a problem… If there is a problem, it is caused by others,” he
said in the speech broadcast live on state television.
“Let us stand together, be together and rid the region of the aggressor’s
presence.”
Rouhani assured neighbouring countries that Iran’s armed forces are “never
against you or your national interests” but are “standing against the
aggressors.”
“The power of our armed forces is the power of the region’s countries, the
Islamic world.” he said.
“If we have a problem in the region today, its roots are either with
Zionism or America’s arrogance.”
Rouhani called on Muslim nations to band together and “restore the
historical right of the nation of Palestine,” saying that “Zionism … has
been committing crimes in the region for the past 70 years”,
“The final victory will surely be with the righteous,” he said.
The military parade was held next to the south Tehran mausoleum of the
Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
It showcased some of Iran’s latest weaponry, including the domestically
designed and manufactured Kowsar fighter jet, which was first unveiled last
year.
Iran also displayed its short-range Zelzal missile and an upgraded model
of the Russian S-200 air defence system.
US-manufactured Bell, Cobra and Chinook helicopters bought before the
Islamic revolution of 1979 also took part in the air display.
– ‘Cancerous tumour’ –
Diatribes against Israel are standard fare of official speeches in Iran,
although some, such as a call by Rouhani’s firebrand predecessor Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad for Israel to be “wiped off the map”, have triggered
international condemnation.
Iran does not recognise Israel and opposition to the Jewish state has been
a central tenet of official policy since the revolution.
Iran has supported Palestinian radical groups and has vociferously opposed
the now moribund Middle East peace process under which the Palestinians were
offered limited autonomy in the territories captured in the Six-Day War of
1967.
Rouhani has previously called Israel a “cancerous tumour”, and called on
Muslim governments to unite against it and its US ally.
Iranian officials have warned repeatedly that Israel will soon cease to
exist, but have usually been careful to underline that that will come about
not through a direct attack by Iran.
“In 25 years’ time, with the grace of God, no such thing as the Zionist
regime will exist in the region,” supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said
in 2015.
– Syria tensions –
The presence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria supporting President
Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the eight-year civil war has sharply increased
tensions between the regional foes.
Israel has said publicly that it has carried out hundreds of air and
missile strikes targeting the forces of Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah
in Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that he will never allow Iran
to establish a long-term military presence in Israel’s northeastern
neighbour.
Netanyahu has been an outspoken opponent of a landmark nuclear deal Iran
signed with major powers in 2015 and was the leading supporter of US
President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from it and reimpose crippling
economic sanctions last year.
Washington’s European allies have refused to follow suit and they, along
with China and Russia, continue to support the deal.
But the Trump administration has sought to forge an anti-Iran axis within
the Middle East bringing together Israel and the Gulf Arab states to make
common cause against what they see as Iranian “meddling” in the region.
Last week, Washington placed Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on its blacklist
of “foreign terrorist organisations,” the first time it had imposed the
sanction on a military arm of a foreign government.
Rouhani warned Washington on Thursday that “an insult to the Guards… is
an insult to the great nation of Iran.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1525 hrs