Hours after Iran's new president called Israel an "old wound" that "should be removed," sparking outrage, official Iranian media claimed on Friday that the president-elect’s remarks were distorted.
According to PressTV, Hassan Rouhani had said “that there's been a wound for years on the body of the Muslim world under the shadow of the occupation of the holy land of Palestine and the beloved [city of] al-Quds.”
The news channel claimed that Rouhani had said that the Iranian Quds Day was “a reminder that Muslims will never forget their historic right to resist oppression and aggression.”
“It was wrongly reported that Rouhani had called Israel a wound that must be cleansed,” claimed PressTV, adding that the president-elect “made no mention of Israel’s removal in his interview.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded earlier on Friday to Rouhani's remarks, saying that his “true face has been revealed earlier than expected. Even if they will now rush to deny his remarks, this is what the man thinks and this is the plan of the Iranian regime."
"These remarks by President Rouhani must rouse the world from the illusion that part of it has been caught up in since the Iranian elections. The President there has changed but the goal of the regime has not: To achieve nuclear weapons in order to threaten Israel, the Middle East and the peace and security of the entire world. A country that threatens the destruction of the State of Israel must not be allowed to possess weapons of mass destruction," the Prime Minister said.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)