Khamenei: Iran will help anyone confront Israel

[Behind the Aegis]

Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the "cancer" Israel, the Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said.

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

Khamenei warned that Tehran would reveal a letter sent by the US president, Barack Obama, to the Iranian leadership in an attempt to end the nuclear standoff. Khamenei said it showed the US could not be trusted. The White House denied that such a letter exists.

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

Any statement by Iran's supreme leader, who has the final say on all matters of state, makes it all the more unlikely that Tehran will switch tack.

continued...

[Purveyor]

1. Keep poking at them. Eventually israel will get the reaction and excuse they need to start

a Middle East regional war.

10K question: How will the fragile countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq (yes, them too), etc. respond.

[jimlup]

4. I think it would be significantly destabilizing but I don't know that it would mean regional war...

I'm no expert - but I'm wondering if Iran would just try to ride out the strike and then switch to a defensive posture which would likely include the actual development of defensive nuclear weapons.

Unless Israel uses nuclear weapons themselves in the first strike - they will not cripple Iran's nuclear program which I'm sure is quite hardened by now.

[Ghost Dog]

5. But the current Israeli political leadership might intend to strike using nuclear weapons,

and the military might be foolish enough to obey such an order.

This would go down badly in history for the perpetrators.

[jimlup]

6. Yeah After I wrote that it caused me to think further about it and

I fear that they may...

[tabatha]

2. Martin Bashir discussed this topic today --- after about 15 minutes into the program.

Although the first 15 minutes were pretty funny.

[demosincebirth]

3. Instead of doing it themselves they excert other countries to do it and the will back 'em up. Sounds

like a coward talking.