I found this tidbit in the liberal,
Russian-language journal Novaya Gazetta (the one for
which murdered journalist and human rights activist
Anna Politkavskaya formerly wrote).
I wouldn't be surprised if it is denied, or even
turns out to be patently false -- draw your own
conclusions.
"No country can be erased from the map of the
world - this is not possible, and knows that every
student (Every educated person knows that - NJ),"
says the head of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki here in Jordan at the
World Economic Forum, said News World.
Thus he commented on the scandal a year and a half
ago, a statement the President of the Islamic
Republic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel "should be
wiped off" from the world political map.
"The statement did not involve military invasion in
any foreign country," said the minister, stressing
that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict underestimated
"without justice"
( http://translate.google.com/... ).
I doubt that this will get much coverage in the US
media, and if it does it will be characterized as a
capitulation on the part of Iran. But then again, we
can't have them capitulating, because then people may
be disinclined to bombing them back to the Stone Age.
Every time I listen to or read the conservative
right-wing media I hear clamors for war with Iran
because they pose an existential threat to Israel.
There is a show on CNN Headline News, Glenn Beck
Program, which is basically a militant Zionist
propaganda show, which brings up Ahmadinejad's
purported remarks about Israel every time I watch.
If you visit his website you can see headlines
like "71% of Israelis want U.S. to strike Iran Poll:
59% still believe war in Iraq was justified." It was
a link to:
( http://www.haaretz.com/... ).
To qualify that, the poll was commissioned by the ADL.
I have also heard that the Ayatollah Khamenei, the real leader
of Iran (as Leverett-Mann tried to point out in a redacted article),
has accepted the possibility of a normalization of
relations with Israel, provided they make certain concessions.
I haven't checked myself to determine if that is still the case.