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Don\u2019t cry for me, O Khatami<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Iran\u2019s antipathy to Israel is nothing new, entrenched in the very core of Iranian political identity. But when newly elected conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated the late Ayatollah Khomenei\u2019s words this week that \u201cIsrael must be wiped off the map,\u201d all hell broke loose. The comments were followed by a near unanimous rebuke<\/a> by the United Nations amidst an Israeli outcry to ban them from the UN (unlikely for now). <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry quickly denied<\/a> that Iran was a threat to Israel (at least more than philosophically), though last week a Palestinian intelligence official uncovered a $10,000 bounty for Islamic Jihad if they launched rockets at Tel Aviv from the West Bank. \u201cMr. Ahmadinejad did not have any intention to speak in sharp terms and engage in a conflict,\u201d said the Iranian embassy in Moscow, adding that Ahmadinejad \u201cunderlined the key position of Iran, based on the necessity to hold free elections on the occupied territories\u201d (before the actual wiping occurs, apparently). <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s previous leader, reformist Mohammad Khatami, had been careful to mention that Iran would back the Palestinians in whatever path they chose, implying an eventual acceptance of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Iran, a signatory to the IAEA, has also been under considerable pressure not to pursue nuclear weapons. While Iranian media was defiant<\/a>, Arab media was mixed<\/a>, noting that Arab countries have agreed in principle to a two-state solution (but also noting that Israel had made 30 air raids on Gaza in the past week alone, with nary a UN mention). And of course, Palestine (you know, the ones that matter) called<\/a> Ahmadinejad\u2019s statements \u201cunacceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, Iran held its annual Al-Quds Day<\/a> where Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran\u2019s desire to pursue nuclear energy (and uranium enrichment) amidst hundreds of thousands of supporters. But the ability of the remarks to unify countries around the world in backlash against Iran has America gloating<\/a>. And with Iran\u2019s foreign ministry capitulating to Iran\u2019s obligations to the UN charter (to refrain from threatening other members), the comments (or clarifications) of Ahmadinejad will only increase scrutiny of a nascent nuclear programme, whether it is used for peaceful purposes or not. <\/p>\n

Western observers are not lost on the obvious \u2013 that Iran may, in fact, never follow through on the threats that grease its political wheels due to its ever increasing requirements for economic and political stability. Twenty-five years after Iran\u2019s Islamic revolution, the anti-Israel\/US\/Britain marches may draw the same defiant crowds, but the death chants are now ringing hollow. \u201cIn a strategic masterstroke our president has broken the unipolar new world order and created a bipolar world,\u201d said<\/a> a satirical piece posted on an Iranian Web site.\u201dNow there\u2019s Iran on one side and Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Oceania against us on the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

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