Statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to the Iranian leader's call to eliminate Israel:
There are reports that the P5+1 countries are close to a deal with Iran on Iran’s nuclear program. I’ve instructed my office to send a letter to the foreign ministers of the P5+1 countries. In that letter I bring, verbatim, the words of Iran’s ruler Ayatollah Khamenai.
The leader of this country that is depicted by some as moderate, the Islamic State of Iran, has said in the last 48 hours: one, that he calls for the annihilation of Israel – his words, not mine; two, he gives nine ways and reasons of how and why Israel should be annihilated – his words, not mine. He’s publically calling for the annihilation of Israel as he is negotiating a nuclear deal with the P5+1 countries.
There is no moderation in Iran. It is unrepentant, unreformed, it calls for Israel’s eradication, it promotes international terrorism, and as the IAEA report just said, it continues to deceive the international community about its nuclear weapons program. This terrorist regime in Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold power.
And I call on the P5+1 countries – don’t rush into a deal that would let Iran rush to the bomb.
