Ayatollah’s pledge on ‘cancer’ Israel

Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the “cancer” Israel, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said yesterday.

In remarks delivered to worshippers at prayers in Tehran and broadcast on state TV, he said Iran would continue its controversial nuclear programme, and warned any military strike would only make Iran stronger.

Iranian officials have always reacted defiantly to indications by the United States and Israel that they might at some point take military action against its nuclear facilities.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, affirmed that Iran had assisted militant groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian Hamas – a well-known policy, but one that Iranian leaders rarely state explicitly.

“We have intervened in anti-Israel matters, and it brought victory in the 33-day war by Hezbollah against Israel in 2006, and in the 22-day war [between Hamas and Israel in Gaza],” he said.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said he wasn’t surprised by the ayatollah’s remarks. “It’s the same kind of hate speech that we’ve been seeing from Iran for many years now,” he said.

Neither the US or Israel have ruled out military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which the West suspects are aimed at developing weapons technology – a claim denied by Tehran.