WarSclerotic

France says Iran comments on Israel complicate nuke talks | The Times of Israel.

Ayatollah calls Israel ‘rabid dog,’ drawing harsh response from Paris as new round of negotiations begin

By AP and Times of Israel staff November 20, 2013, 2:24 pm

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd after speaking in Tehran earlier this year. (photo credit: AP/Office of the Supreme Leader)

PARIS — The French government spokeswoman says President Francois Hollande believes comments by Iran’s supreme leader about Israel are “unacceptable” and complicate talks between world powers and the Islamic regime over its nuclear program.

French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters that Hollande’s cabinet discussed the Iran nuclear dossier just hours before negotiations between Iran and six world powers were set to resume in Geneva.

She said, however, that France still hopes for a deal and its position has not changed in the talks.

Hollande was referring to comments attributed earlier to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaking to a gathering of the Basij force, which is controlled by Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.

In them, the Iranian leader referred to Israel — “the Zionist regime” — as “the rabid dog of the region.”

Speaking to some 50,000 members of the paramilitary volunteer militia, Khamenei also said Israel was ripe for collapse.

“The (Israeli) Zionist regime is a regime whose pillars are extremely shaky and is doomed to collapse,” he said, according to French news agency AFP. “Any phenomenon that is created by force cannot endure.”

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