The Obama administration is determined to reach a diplomatic solution with a nation that responds to attacks on France and Israel that do not mention the United States with shouts of ‘Death to America.’
FRANCE SLAMS IRAN OVER ANTI-ISRAEL REMARKS
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
November 20, 2013
France on Wednesday continued to demonstrate that it has Israel's back in the ongoing Iran nuclear saga when French President Francois Hollande blasted Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his bitter remarks targeting the Jewish state.
Addressing an elite unit of his Revolutionary Guards, Khamenei called Israel the "rabid dog of the region" and promised that "the Zionist regime...is doomed to extinction."
Khamenei also took aim at France for cozying up to Israel of late, and somewhat comically vowed to "slap the aggressors in the face."
Even when the talk was all of France and Israel, the US still couldn't seem to catch a break, as the gathered Iranian troops responded to their leader's speech by chanting "Death to America."
A French government spokeswoman said that Hollande viewed Khamenei's remarks as "unacceptable" and detrimental to nuclear negotiations between Iran and Western powers that resumed in Geneva on Wednesday.
Israel remains skeptical and concerned over the kind of deal that could result from those talks. France's position notwithstanding, the Obama Administration appeared determined to push through a deal that would remove Western sanctions without requiring Iran to dismantle its ability to build nuclear weapons in the future.
Meanwhile, Israel appears to be gearing itself up for the possibility of having to go it alone in striking Iran's nuclear facilities.
"We’ve said very clearly that if the world does not act we will solve the problem alone, and we meant just that," Knesset Member Ze'ev Elkin told Arutz Sheva radio. "We are able to act. Our ability to cause damage to Iran's nuclear program is not as strong as that of the Americans, but this ability is definitely there and we cannot sit back if we see that Iran is advancing towards a nuclear weapon."
No comments:
Post a Comment