I think in Iran, this is called “chutzpah.”
Iran protested Tuesday against a threat by Pensioners’ Affairs Minister and former Mossad agent Rafi Eitan to kidnap President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declaring it would not hesitate to act in self-defense.
In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iran’s UN ambassador referred to Eitan stating that kidnapping Ahmadinejad is “an acceptable option” and to comments on September 3 by Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeating the threat to use force against Iran.
“While the Islamic Republic of Iran has never threatened other nations,” Ambassador Mohammad Khazee said it “would not hesitate to act in self-defense to respond to any attack against the Iranian nation and to take appropriate defensive measures to protect itself, its people and its officials.”
Israel’s UN Mission said it would have no comment on Khazee’s letter.
In an interview published Tuesday with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Eitan was asked whether the Mossad still hunted down Nazis.
“That era is over. But that’s not to say that such operations are completely a thing of the past,” he answered. “It could very well be that a leader such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suddenly finds himself before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”
Referring to the Iranian president, Eitan said that those who “spread poison” and wanted to eradicate another people had “to expect such consequences.”
Here are some of Iran’s non-threats.
Iran’s conservative new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Wednesday that Israel must be “wiped off the map.”
And here:
The world powers established this filthy bacteria, the Zionist regime, which is lashing out at the nations in the region like a wild beast.
[Israel] won support [from the other nations] which created it as a scarecrow, so as to keep the people of this area under control.
And here:
Two months ago, [Ahmadinejad] said the Lebanese and the Palestinians had pressed a “countdown button” to bring an end to the state of Israel.
On Saturday, the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying of Israel in a speech: “When the philosophy of the establishment and the continuation of this regime is not just, it is not unlikely that it is on the path of decline and disintegration.”
On the other hand, it’s hard to argue with someone who travels with his own halo:
In comments circulated on bootleg CD-roms and the internet after his debut appearance at the UN general assembly last year, the 49-year-old Iranian president was captured on videotape saying he had been told by a witness that when he made his speech he was surrounded by an aura-like halo of light.
“I felt it myself. I felt that the atmosphere suddenly changed, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, all the leaders of the world did not blink. When I say they didn’t move an eyelid, I’m not exaggerating.”
Extremely sane, rational people, those religious fundamentalists.
Nagu Hagadol.