Even though the conflict in Syria and Syrian threats to Israel remain the most likely tipping point, we can't forget that the shadow of Iran always looms large. The recent elections in Iran are meaningless, as we know who really has control in Iran and that will not change anytime soon:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday against being taken in by Iran’s election of the relatively moderate cleric Hasan Rowhani to the Iranian presidency.
“Let us not delude ourselves,” Netanyahu said. “The international community must not become caught up in wishes and be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program. It must be remembered that the Iranian ruler, at the outset, disqualified candidates who did not fit his extremist outlook and from among those whose candidacies he allowed was elected the candidate who was seen as less identified with the regime, who still defines the State of Israel [in an address last year] as ‘the great Zionist Satan.’”
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and not the president, determined Tehran’s nuclear policy, Netanyahu continued.
“The more the pressure on Iran increases, the greater is the chance of stopping the Iranian nuclear program, which remains the greatest threat to world peace,” he said. “Iran will be judged by its actions. If it continues to insist on developing its nuclear program, the answer needs to be very clear – stopping the nuclear program by any means.”
As long as Iran’s nuclear policy is dictated by Khamenei, international sanctions against Iran “must continue, regardless of the desire of the Iranian people for progress,” he said, adding that Iran was “only a year or less away from the nuclear red line.”On Saturday, acting defense minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), who is filling in for Moshe Ya’alon, said he feared Rowhani’s win, and his reputation as a centrist and reformer, might lead the West to give Iran more leeway in diplomatic contacts over its rogue nuclear drive.
“There might be a temptation… to agree to another round of talks, and then another round. Meanwhile the centrifuges are still spinning,” said Erdan, who is also minister of homefront defense and communications.
He told Channel 10 he was worried world powers might misconstrue Rowhani, because he is a cleric, as some kind of benevolent “spiritual” leader who might change policies, when this was certainly not the case.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman’s office issued a statement on Saturday on the news from Iran expressing a similar sentiment.
“The president elect in Iran had been shortlisted by Ayatollah Khamenei, who has disqualified and removed candidates who did not conform to his extremist views. Iran’s nuclear program has so far been determined by Khamenei, and not by Iran’s president.
Israel’s acting defense minister said Saturday he was concerned Hassan Rowhani’s win in the Iranian presidential elections might buy Iran more time in diplomatic contacts with the West over its nuclear program.
Gilad Erdan (Likud), who is filling in for Moshe Ya’alon, said he feared Rowhani’s win, and his reputation as a centrist and reformer, might lead the West to give Iran more leeway in diplomatic contacts over its rogue nuclear drive.
“There might be a temptation… to agree to another round of talks, and then another round. Meanwhile the centrifuges are still spinning,” said Erdan, who is also minister of Homefront Defense and Communications.
He told Channel 10 he was worried world powers might misconstrue Rowhani, because he is a cleric, as some kind of benevolent “spiritual” leader, who might change policies, when this was certainly not the case.
Defense Minister Ya’alon had said the Iranian election would “make no difference,” because its results would be determined by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made clear in Sunday's cabinet meeting that he was unimpressed by new Iranian President Hassan Rohani's 'moderate" credentials, saying that he too calls Israel the "Great Zionist Satan."
Netanyahu, in his first public reaction to Rohani's victory, advised the world not to have any illusions, or to now be enticed to soften sanctions on Iran.
Netanyahu said that in any event it was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's Supreme Leader, who determines Iran's nuclear policy, and not the country's president.
"In the last 20 years the only thing that has brought about a temporary freeze of the Iranian nuclear program was Iranian concern in 2003 about an attack against it," Netanyahu said, alluding to fears in Tehran at the time that the US, which had just gone into Iraq, might do the same with Iran as well.
"Iran will be judged by its actions," Netanyahu said. "If continues to stubbornly develop its nuclear program, the answer needs to be clear: stopping its program any way possible."
The election of cleric Hassan Rohani as president of Iran came as a shock to many analysts who thought that the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, would have favored the more conservative candidates – Saeed Jalili or Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf.
Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority, may have not been up to pushing through one of the more conservative candidates because it would have risked sparking protests like those in 2009 when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad beat a leader of the Green Movement, Mir Hussein Mousavi in what many thought was a fraudulent election win by Ahmadinejad.
Now with celebrations in the streets of Iran for the victory of the “moderate” Rohani, who was backed by the reformists and its leaders such as Mousavi, who is still under house arrest, Khamenei can sigh with relief as he has diminished the chances for any popular protests or uprisings in the near future.
Though Rohani is described as a moderate, especially when compared to Ahmadinejad, perhaps it would be more accurate to describe him as more pragmatic.
He is a long-time regime supporter and an early follower of the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
And when it comes to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, we also see a continuation from previous Iranian policies.
Rohani stated in the interview that the Palestinian issue has always been of prime importance since the inception of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
“Iran will continue to support the Palestinian cause wholeheartedly,” he asserted.
“It is very possible that Khameini wanted him to win and did not intervene” because he would be better able to deal with the West and ease pressure from the sanctions due to the country’s nuclear program.
Rohani is a longtime supporter of the regime since its establishment, and he is unlikely to alter Iran’s strategic positions, unless it is to make tactical retreats to ward off international and domestic pressures.
And this from Joel Rosenberg:
Hassan Rowhani Is No 'Moderate' - He was Endorsed By The Only Iranian Leader Ever To Publicly Call For Israel To Be Destroyed By Nuclear Weapons
Rowhani is no moderate. He is a disciple of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late fanatical tyrant of Tehran. He was a senior national security advisor to Khomeini during the brutal war with Iraq that left a million people dead. He served as a top national security advisor to the regime in the 1990s, as well. He was Iran’s nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 and is both a loyal defender of Iran’s nuclear program and a shrewd and experienced diplomat.
Hassan Rowhani Is No 'Moderate' - He was Endorsed By The Only Iranian Leader Ever To Publicly Call For Israel To Be Destroyed By Nuclear Weapons
You’ve really got to hand it to Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The man is one of the most evil tyrants on the face of the earth. He is pursuing nuclear weapons to wipe Israel and the U.S. off the map. He wants to usher in the caliphate of the Twelfth Imam and bring about the apocalyptic End of Days. Yet he is desperately trying to prevent Israel — or any other country — from launching preemptive military strikes and neutralizing Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Thus, Khamenei is trying to use the rigged current presidential elections to recast Iran as suddenly moving in a more “moderate” direction, and thus persuading the West to ease up on economic sanctions and pressure Israel to back off.
And the Western media is totally buying it.
Rowhani is no moderate. He is a disciple of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late fanatical tyrant of Tehran. He was a senior national security advisor to Khomeini during the brutal war with Iraq that left a million people dead. He served as a top national security advisor to the regime in the 1990s, as well. He was Iran’s nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 and is both a loyal defender of Iran’s nuclear program and a shrewd and experienced diplomat.
- Western media and many world governments will say that a “moderate” and “reformer” and “pragmatist” has won, but that will be a lie. Rowhani is a first-rate extremist. He wants to build The Bomb and destroy Israel and usher in the End of Days, just like Khamenei. But unlike Ahmadinejad, Rowhani is a wily coyote. He’s a smooth, sophisticated and experienced operator. He’s already got the media fooled about who he is. That’s just the beginning.
Also see:
[Note, this has nothing to do with prophecy, but I couldn't resist - you'll see why]
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