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Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:51 GMT 12:51 UK

Belief: But didn't President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threaten to 'wipe Israel off the map?'

Reality: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did quote Ayatollah Khomeini to the effect that "this Occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" (in rezhim-e eshghalgar-i Qods bayad as safheh-e ruzgar mahv shavad). This was not a pledge to roll tanks and invade or to launch missiles, however. It is the expression of a hope that the regime will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did.

zahir, woking

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:48 GMT 12:48 UK

Belief: Iran has threatened to attack Israel militarily and to "wipe it off the map."

Reality: No Iranian leader in the executive has threatened an aggressive act of war on Israel, since this would contradict the doctrine of 'no first strike' to which the country has adhered. The Iranian president has explicitly said that Iran is not a threat to any country, including Israel.

zahir, woking

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:48 GMT 12:48 UK

"It is the holocaust we have all witnessed and are responsible for in Gaza and in Palestine over the past 60 years."


Ahmed, Jedda

Just read this one...I don't think that whats happening to the Palestinians is a good thing but if you are seriously comparing it to the Holocaust and genocide then you must need your brains testing. Get some perspective.

Pete Wilson, leicester

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:47 GMT 12:47 UK

Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US

Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of "no first strike." This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.

So lets leave Iran alone and welcome them in the western community. Stop sanctions and support of anti-iran groups. Stop propaganda against Iran.

zahir, woking

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:45 GMT 12:45 UK

"4.5 million ethnically cleansed Palestinians refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordon are denied the right to go back home by Israel." - Nizam Yagoub

Stop cooking the books. It was never 4.5million, it was fewer than a million who were forced out or fled in 1948 and 1967. It's only 4.5m now because the Palestinians are the only group in which refugees' children and grandchildren who weren't even born in the country are also classified as "refugees." I guess I must be a refugee too.

[Martin1983], London, United Kingdom

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:44 GMT 12:44 UK

you have jumped on the blame Israel bandwagon when the problem is Iran is a terrorist nation. People also ignored Hitler's threat.

Richard Leeds, United States

Taking your own words on, a peace-loving nation in the US if has the right to own WMD in all types of atomic arsenal, to make Iran walk along the path of the Mahatma in the policies of the US, is it not the duty of America to show destroying its own nuclear devices and then demand other to emulate it?

Till then yours is ranting.

C. Sachidananda Narayanan, Tirunelveli, India

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:41 GMT 12:41 UK

you have jumped on the blame Israel bandwagon when the problem is Iran is a terrorist nation. People also ignored Hitler's threat.

Richard Leeds, United States

Taking your own words on, a peace-loving nation in the US if has the right to own WMD in all types of atomic arsenal, to make Iran walk along the path of the Mahatma in the policies of the US, is it not the duty of America to show destroying its own nuclear devices and then demand other to emulate it?

Till then yours is ranting.

C. Sachidananda Narayanan, Tirunelveli, India

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:41 GMT 12:41 UK

"I'm not talking about Ahmedinijad. It is the holocaust we have all witnessed and are responsible for in Gaza and in Palestine over the past 60 years." - Ahmed, Jedda

Well, I am talking about Ahmadinejad since this is a forum on Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities. If you want to talk about Israel and the Palestinians, try a different Have Your Say topic instead of diverting the subject.

[Martin1983], London, United Kingdom

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:35 GMT 12:35 UK

Iran is becoming a major threat to the stability of Gulf & Middle East regions and it must be brought to its knees very soon.

George, Cyprus

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:30 GMT 12:30 UK

Did you know that when Hamas took power, it killed 800 Fatah members? No, you didn't. Did you know Hamas shot 8000 rockets on civilians? Did you know Egypt closed it's borders with the Gaza strip? No, you didn't.
Iran is calling for the destruction of Israel. I guess that this is fine with you...

Guy Minter, Tel Aviv


8000 you say? BUT we saw NONE on the TV screens, instead DIME and white phosphorus on civilians & children. And DID YOU KNOW are forbidden weapons by the Geneva Convention?

STOP the False crocodile tears...

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:24 GMT 12:24 UK

Ahmed, Jeddah

Have you ever visited Gaza? Have you ever visited the West Bank? Have you ever talked with an Israeli? Of course not. You just sit in your couch and write down your empty words.

Guy Minter, Tel Aviv

Guy, Tel Aviv

4.5 million ethnically cleansed Palestinians refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordon are denied the right to go back home by Israel.

How do you expect poor Ahmed to visit these areas or talk to an Israeli; that is a bit cheeky; isn't it?

Nizam Yagoub

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:23 GMT 12:23 UK

it is better if we don't expect too much from the talks, since all of the parties that are going to participate have there own hidden agenda, and that hidden agenda is there countries national interest, Iran has every right to develop and maintain a nuclear weapon, there are many countries in the world who have a nuclear capability, i don't know why it is difficult when it comes to Iran, i am from Ethiopia,

GEBEYHU, ADDIS ABABA

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:22 GMT 12:22 UK

you have jumped on the blame Israel bandwagon when the problem is Iran is a terrorist nation. People also ignored Hitler's threat.

Richard Leeds, United States

No. You should learn to respect independent opinion. Collective opinion cannot be any bandwagon as you paint it. What right do you own to say Iran a terrorist nation while 8 years during Bush you wrecked havoc in Iraq with all terrorist tactics equal to the sad 9/11 terrorism.

Fire never extinguishes fire. Its water, Not wars.

C. Sachidananda Narayanan, Tirunelveli, India

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 11:06 GMT 12:06 UK

Responding Iran needs strategic temper in a polite and decent manner because in the past the world remained silent during any of the missile tests undertaken by any other country.

A R Shams, Pakistan

Added: Sunday, 4 October, 2009, 10:55 GMT 11:55 UK

To Ahmed:

Using words like "holocaust" and "genocide" to refer to the situation the Palestinians find themselves in is grotesque hyperbole. In the Holocaust, the Jewish population in Europe was decimated and one-third of all the Jews in the world were killed. In contrast, the Palestinian population increases year in and year out. Of course, Palestinians are suffering (for a variety of reasons), but only an ignorant or cruel person would compare their situation to that of the Jews in WWII.

Gary, Japan