SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Israeli PM wishes Iranians 'regime' change for Persian New Year
Jerusalem, March 20 (AFP) Mar 20, 2022
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday said he hoped for a change of political regime for the people of arch-enemy Iran, in a message marking the Persian New Year, or Nowruz.

"Nowruz literally means 'new day. And that's my greatest wish to you, the Iranian people: that you will see a new day -- a day of freedom from the cruel Iranian regime," he said in a video message in English.

Israel considers Iran an "existential threat" and the two countries have been at loggerheads since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah.

Bennett's remarks also come as Israel has vehemently opposed the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The deal granted the Islamic republic much-needed sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, but started unravelling after the US unilaterally pulled out in 2018.

On Friday, Bennett had appealed to the US not to remove Iran's Revolutionary Guards from its blacklist of foreign terrorist organisations as part of a renewed deal.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "is a terrorist organisation that has murdered thousands of people, including Americans", he said in a joint statement with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

The United States had said on Wednesday that Washington and Tehran were close to agreement on restoring the 2015 accord.

"We are close to a possible deal, but we're not there yet," said State Department spokesman Ned Price. "We do think the remaining issues can be bridged."

Sources close to the talks have said outstanding issues included Tehran's demands for Washington to delist the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group.

At a cabinet meeting Sunday, Bennett denounced what he said was a desire to sign the Iran deal "at almost any price, including saying that the largest terrorist organisation in the world is not a terrorist organisation".

"That is too high a price to pay," he added.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Perseverance rover cleared for long distance Mars exploration
Possible "superkilonova" exploded not once but twice
Origami style lunar rover wheel expands to climb steep caves

24/7 Energy News Coverage
The Quantum Age will be Powered by Fusion
Physicists map axion production paths inside deuterium tritium fusion reactors
Hybrid excitons speed ultrafast energy transfer at 2D organic interface

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
SDA expands Tracking Layer satellite awards and related missile defense contracts
Space Systems Command activates System Delta 80 for assured space access
Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions to provide SAR reconnaissance data to German military

24/7 News Coverage
Philosopher argues AI consciousness may remain unknowable
Climate driven model explores Neanderthal and modern human overlap in Iberia
Economic losses from natural disasters down by a third in 2025: Swiss Re



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.