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Last update - 20:54 12/08/2008
Iranian VP summoned by parliament after saying Iran a friend of Israel, U.S.
By DPA
Tags: ahmadinejad, iran, israel 

Iranian Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei has been summoned by parliament for having made pro-Israeli comments, Iran's ISNA news agency reported Tuesday.

The cultural commission of the parliament has called for a special session on Wednesday with Rahim-Mashaei for him to reply to "questions, ambiguities and criticism" by the deputies over the comments.

The vice-president, who is in charge of cultural heritage and tourism, had said "Iran wants no war with any country, and today Iran is friend of the United States and even Israel.... Our achievements belong to the whole world and should be used for expanding love and peace."
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He reiterated this position again on Monday.

Reacting to Rahim-Mashaei's comments, parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Monday reiterated that Iran was no friend of the Israelis.

The reaction by the parliament and Larijani was surprising as the Vice President's remarks are in line with the stance of Iran's Islamic system, which distinguishes peoples from governments, including political arch-foes Israel and the United States.

Even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has earned himself international notoriety for his frequent verbal assaults on Israel, has several times stressed that he was addressing the Israeli administration and not the Jews, and hence rejected charges of being anti-Semitic.

Iran does not acknowledge Israel as a sovereign state and has called for a referendum in what it calls the "occupied territories" to clarify the future political situation. Tehran says that Jews should live besides Muslims but in a Palestinian, not Israeli land.

Ahmadinejad has voiced hopes for the eradication of Israel from the Middle East, demanding its relocation to Europe or Alaska, and he also expressed doubts about the historic dimension of the Holocaust during World War II.


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      1.   Just Reform And Stop Threatening Israel 18:23  |  Yosemite 12/08/08
      2.   Misleading translation 18:38  |  Iranian 12/08/08
      3.   And so ity begins 18:43  |  Dr Noam 12/08/08
      4.   We do not reckognize IRAN as a sovereign state... 19:56  |  Jordan 12/08/08
      5.   Jealousy 20:28  |  Ben 12/08/08
      6.   Israel never threatened to annihilate any people or any country. 20:28  |  Jean Van Daem 12/08/08
      7.   Jordan - that`s what they say about Israel 20:30  |  Inquirer 12/08/08
      8.   One day he will be president 20:55  |  Realist 12/08/08
      9.   HUTZPA 21:19  |  Dr Noam 12/08/08
      10.   Cowards 21:29  |  Dr Noam 12/08/08
      11.   How peacefull are these hornets ! 21:39  |  Septimus 12/08/08
      12.   Reform Israel 21:53  |  North American 12/08/08
      13.   #3, Jordan 22:15  |  whatever 12/08/08
      14.   "Tehran says that Jews should live besides Muslims." As Dhimmis? 22:17  |  thanks but no thanks 12/08/08
      15.   Committing the sin in Islamist-Jihadism 22:38  |  Brod 12/08/08
      16.   reply to "North American, no. 10 22:55  |  Sam C 12/08/08
      17.   12 North American 23:12  |  H 12/08/08
      18.   Yosemite, the US isn`t doing too well, so. . . 23:17  |  Zev Davis 12/08/08
      19.   Dr. Noam and cowards 23:18  |  A good Semite 12/08/08
      20.   #19 - United Semites of Arabia would be good name 23:30  |  yezmar 12/08/08
      21.   IVAR and Lakshmi.you were loudly praising Iran on this! 23:45  |  PETER SM 12/08/08
      22.   Don`t bother yourself and us, Iranians. We don`t believe in your 23:53  |  Vittorio 12/08/08
      23.   iran havent invaded any nation in the last two centuries 23:55  |  you know who 12/08/08
      24.   So, In essence, N.A, you want to us to become 00:08  |  Alex 13/08/08
      25.   #2 Iranian....well, I, for one, don`t feel any 00:08  |  Lynn 13/08/08
      26.   North American 00:27  |  Brad 13/08/08
      27.   H # 17 00:33  |  North American 13/08/08
      28.   My Thanks to # 2, the Iranian 01:01  |  US CITIZEN 13/08/08
      29.   To North American 02:10  |  utagawa 13/08/08
      30.   #1 Yosemite 02:59  |  Space 13/08/08
      31.   Lynn, friendly Iranians 03:28  |  Iranian-american 13/08/08
      32.   Why can`t the Jews have a Jewish state? 05:37  |  Great White North 13/08/08
      33.   Brad # 26 and Utagawa # 29 05:43  |  North American 13/08/08
      34.   North America 06:58  |  Ed 13/08/08
      35.   No one believed the Vice President anyway 07:09  |  The Archives 13/08/08
      36.   Incident proves that Iran threatens ONLY THE OCCUPATION 08:13  |  Ivar 13/08/08
      37.   IVAR So why is the VP being summoned to the Parliament?? 09:22  |  PETER SM 13/08/08
      38.   I could only smile reading the title! 10:18  |  S 13/08/08
      39.   To Iranian American 12:22  |  Victoria 13/08/08
      40.   #23 Iran hasn`t invaded... 13:59  |  sharon 13/08/08
      41.   North American: Why On Earth Israel Was Created 16:57  |  Tex 13/08/08
      42.   North American: Losing Objectivity 17:00  |  Tex 13/08/08
      43.   Iranian-American 31 22:11  |  ChanahS 13/08/08
      44.   Iranian-American 31 22:11  |  ChanahS 13/08/08
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