In a December 23, 2018 interview with the French weekly Le Point, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that no Iranian leader had ever threatened to destroy Israel. When the interviewer responded by quoting a statement made by former Iranian president Ahmadinejad at the UN against Israel, Zarif replied that Ahmadinejad had merely been quoting the founder of the Islamic Revolution regime, Ruhollah Khomeini. Ahmadinejad, he added, had not threatened Israel but only meant to say that “Israel would eventually disappear if it continued its present policy.”[i]
Zarif’s claim is a blatant lie. The various Iranian regime governments have consistently and explicitly presented the destruction of Israel as an ideological and practical goal of the Islamic Revolution regime.[ii]
It should be mentioned that statements by Iranian officials about the need to destroy Israel did not end with Ahmadinejad’s presidency. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei periodically posts to this effect on his various websites and social media accounts, such as the following tweet, from June 2018:
A report focusing on recent statements by top Iranian officials regarding the need to destroy Israel will be published soon.
Below is a comprehensive report published by MEMRI in September 2018 elaborating Iran’s policy with regard to the destruction of Israel.
Full MEMRI report.