Dubai - Iran is not calling for the
elimination of the Jewish people, but believes people of all
religions should decide Israel's future, Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday.
Since its Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has refused to
recognise Israel and has backed militant Palestinian groups.
Israel has long accused Iran of seeking its destruction and
regards Tehran as its main enemy in the Middle East.
"Calling for the elimination of the state of Israel does not
mean the elimination of the Jewish people," Khamenei told
officials and participants at an Islamic conference in Tehran,
according to his official website.
"It means that the people of Palestine - be they Muslim,
Christian or Jewish - should choose their own government."
The Shi'ite Muslim Khamenei, the ultimate authority on
Iranian domestic and foreign policy, also criticised Western
powers for pressuring Tehran over its nuclear programme.
"All nations need peaceful nuclear energy, but Western
monopolists seek to keep this energy in monopoly...," Khamenei
said. "Westerners know that we are not seeking nuclear weapons
because of our principles and (religious) beliefs."
Iran has repeatedly denied ever having sought to build a
nuclear bomb, referring to a religious decree issued in the
early 2000s by Khamenei that bans the development or use of
nuclear weapons.
US intelligence agencies and the UN nuclear watchdog
believe Iran had a covert atomic bomb programme for a number of
years that it subsequently halted.
France, Britain and Germany said this week they were
extremely concerned by Iran's decision to resume uranium
enrichment at an underground plant, though they stopped short of
directly urging new sanctions.
Iran's move was the latest in a series of steps through
which Tehran has overstepped the limits of its 2015 nuclear pact
with world powers, in response to the United States withdrawing
from the accord last year and reimposing sanctions.