Iranian Official Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi: Iranians Fought Alongside Hamas, Islamic Jihad in Gaza; We Will Destroy Israel within 25 Years

Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi, a member of Iran's Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution, said in remarks that aired on Ofogh TV (Iran) on May 31 that, even without the help of other countries, Iran will destroy Israel and liberate Palestine within 25 years, as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said in the past. Azghadi said that the Americans would end their sanctions if Iran stopped supporting the Palestinians, but that this is where Iran "draws the line." Giving the example of Israeli assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, he said that Iran has paid a heavy price for its stance, and he added that Iranians had been present in Gaza and had fought alongside Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants during the recent conflict with Israel.

Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi: "Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader, announced a year or two ago: Israel – the Zionist regime – will cease to exist in the next 20-25 years, Allah willing. Even if no other government or people assist us, we will bring down the Zionist regime ourselves in the next 20 years, and Palestine should be liberated in the next 20 or 21 years at the most, Allah willing.

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"All the sanctions against us – a large part of them – are due to the issue of Palestine. America and the West keep telling us this: 'Do not act against Israel. Say that you are not related to Palestine, and talk about both Palestine and Israel. Do not help the Palestinians and we will remove the sanctions. We will not confront you and we will tolerate you.' But this is where we draw the line. The fate of the entire Islamic nation concerns us, and we feel responsible for the [Palestinians]. We have paid a heavy price for this – sanctions, confrontations, assassinations... The Zionists were the ones who assassinated our nuclear scientists. They said we were helping the Palestinians with our nuclear program and our missiles. They said that we wanted to help them. The Prime Minister of Israel, during the 33-day war for the defense of Gaza... You know better... Our brothers from Iran were in Gaza and fought alongside the mujahideen of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The Prime Minister of Israel said: 'Thousands of Iranian missiles rained down on our heads.'"