Leaders around the world on Thursday condemned a call by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel be "wiped off the map," and a top Iranian official said that mass demonstrations in his country on Friday would rebuff the rising criticism from abroad.
"I have never come across a situation of the president of a country saying they want to . . . wipe out another country," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said at a summit outside London of the 25 leaders of the European Union's member states. Blair said Ahmadinejad's comment was "completely and totally unacceptable."
In a joint statement, the E.U. leaders "condemned in the strongest terms" the Iranian president's call, saying it "will cause concern about Iran's role in the region and its future intentions." President Jacques Chirac of France told reporters that Ahmadinejad risked Iran "being left on the outside of other nations." Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Israel, called the Iranian president's statement "unacceptable."
I find it hard to believe that another world leader can be as clueless as Bush. To thumb his nose at the rest of the world inviting sanctions, a military air campaign, and pariah status from the industrial world. He already has invited a change in the advocacy from Russia. This kind of statement may be enough to convince China and India to reconsider it's politically neutral trade policies. Even most of the Mullahs in Iran must be rolling their eyes in disbelief.
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