Iranian foreign minister: ‘Chances of war with Israel are great’

“The chances of war with Israel are great,” Iran’s Foreign Minister said.

By World Israel News Staff

“The chances of war with Israel are great,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday at the Munich Peace and Security Conference on the Middle East.

“There are those looking for war – Israel,” Javad said. “We’re in Syria to fight terror, the violation of Lebanon’s airspace and attacks in Syria are a violation of international law and no one criticizes Israel but rather us; the danger of war increases when no one refers to Israel.”

Iran is feeling the diplomatic heat as a gathering of over 60 nations in Warsaw at a Mideast security conference last week put the finger squarely on Iran as the the greatest threat to Mideast peace. Zarif’s remarks may have been an attempt to redirect attention back to the Arab states traditional target – Israel.

Leaked comments from a closed meeting at the Warsaw conference highlighted the change in attitude of some Arab states. Bahrain’s foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, said, “We grew up talking about the Palestine-Israel dispute as the most important issue. But then at a later stage, we saw a bigger challenge. We saw a more toxic one, in fact the most toxic in our modern history, which came from the Islamic Republic, from Iran.”

Zarif also reacted to comments by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke at the Munich Security Conference after attending the one in Warsaw. Pence told the press on Air Force Two before reaching Munich on Saturday, “We have the regime in Tehran that’s breathing out murderous threats, with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe.”

Zarif denied the comparison of Iran’s regime to the Nazis, telling Germany’s Der Spiegel Online,”Iran has always supported the Jews. We are just against Zionists. The Holocaust was a disaster.”