Israel planned to assassinate Ahmadinejad: Iran
Fri Jul 17, Yahoo News
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie said on Friday that Israel had planned to assassinate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad around the time of last month's presidential election. The Fars news agency quoted Ejeie as saying that Israeli officials had met members of the exiled Iranian opposition group, People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), to execute the plan.
"The Zionist regime had met with the hypocrite group (the term Iran uses for the PMOI) on the sidelines of (a meeting in) Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and in Paris to assassinate Mr. Ahmadinejad," Ejeie said.
But the PMOI set some conditions for the job, he said. "The hypocrites set some conditions for this job and asked that the US and others remove their name from the (terror) black list," Ejeie said.
"The enemies even approached the rebels in east of the country to achieve this aim," he added, referring to Sunni rebels who are engaged in a rebellion against Iran's Shiite government.
Tensions between Iran and Israel have particularly worsened under Ahmadinejad who has regularly launched anti-Israel tirades. Soon after taking office in 2005, the hardliner said Israel was "doomed to be wiped off the map" and followed it up with another diatribe, saying that the Holocaust was a "myth."
Israel is one of the main opponents of Iran's nuclear programme, along with Washington and other global powers. Ahmadinjead was re-elected on June 12 to new four-year term.
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