U.S. Congress blasts Iran for threats
Laptop Battery Friday, 28th October 2005
Iran Focus
Washington, DC, Oct. 28 - Both the United States House of Representatives and Senate passed separate resolutions against Iran on Friday for threatening peace in the Middle East and calling for the annihilation of Israel.
On Wednesday, hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel must be "wiped off the map" and "anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nations' fury".
The Senate "thoroughly repudiates the anti-Israel sentiments expressed by the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on October 26, 2005", according to the Congressional Record.
It also called "on the President [Bush], on behalf of the United States, to thoroughly repudiate, in the strongest terms possible, the statement by Mr. Ahmadinejad".
The Senate resolution reaffirmed that the State Department had designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism that had "repeatedly provided support for acts of international terror".
It also said that the "outrageous statements of Mr. Ahmadinejad are not in accord with the expressions of the Palestinian leadership in the peace process".
The House of Representatives passed a similar resolution Friday condemning Ahmadinejad's remarks, with some members demanding that Iran be expelled from the United Nations for his threats, the Agence France Presse reported.
"The leader of Iran made one of the most repugnant remarks the international community has heard since Adolf Hitler", said Representative Tom Lantos.
"With his bone-chilling call for Israel to be 'wiped off the map', the Iranian dictator placed himself and his benighted regime far beyond the pale of the civilized world", the California Democrat said.
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, said she was among a group of House lawmakers who are urging the United Nations to vote on expelling or censuring Iran.
"Ahmadinejad's incendiary remarks were appalling. In calling for the annihilation of Israel -- a United Nations member state -- Iran stands in grave breach of the UN Charter, which stipulates that member states must foster peaceful relations with one another", said Ros-Lehtinen.
She also said she had asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to lead the effort to secure a UN Security Council recommendation for Iran's expulsion.
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