Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Saturday that Israel is the "flag of Satan."
Iranian state-run news agency IRNA reported that Ahmadinejad made the statement at a religious conference where he predicted that Israel is on the road to dissolution.
"The Zionist regime is the flag bearer of invasion, occupation and Satan," Ahmadinejad said. " When the philosophy behind its creation and survival is invalid, it is not unlikely that this regime be on the path to dissolution and deterioration.”
British Paper Still Not Sure Some Western newspapers continue to argue that Ahmadinejad’s past references to Israel were mistranslated. Speaking about his famous October, 2005, statement calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” the British Guardian writes: “…Ahmadinejad's words were mistranslated and should have been better translated as ‘vanish from the pages of time’ - implying Israel would vanish on its own rather be destroyed.
British Arab Editor Says He’d Celebrate Nuking Israel
The Editor-in-Chief of a popular Arabic newspaper also based in England recently said that he would celebrate Iranian nuclear bombs fired at Israel. “If a war breaks out, where will the Iranians retaliate?” asked Abd Al-Bari Atwan, Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper on ANB TV on June 27. Answering his own question, Atwan said: “If Iran is able to retaliate, it will burn the oil wells, block the Straits of Hormouz, attack the bases in the Gulf, and Allah willing, it will attack Israel as well. If the Iranian missiles strike Israel – by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square, and dance with delight if the Iranian missiles strike Israel.”
Iran Launches English Station With BBC Help
Iran’s state-run media has launched an English-language news agency called Press TV, which includes an English-language 24-hour satellite TV station.
According to an Omedia report, the station’s 30-man staff, which is composed of American and British citizens, was trained by a BBC employee.
“At the channel's disposal is a wide network of correspondents positioned at strategic points around the world, including the United States and the Gaza Strip,” the report states. Whereas Al Jazeera is associated with Sunni Islam, Press TV is staunchly Shiite. At its inauguration, Ahmadinejad expressed his hope that the station could “break the stranglehold of the Western media hegemony.”
According to the group Reporters Without Borders, Iran imprisons more journalists than any other Middle Eastern country. The organization says that since Ahmadinejad was elected, suppression against journalists and the media have intensified and journalists are subject to monitoring and harassment.