Majlis to question Vice President
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
20:25GMT—4:25PM/EST
MASHAEI – MAJLIS
Washington, 12 August (IranVNC)—Iranian Vice President for Cultural Heritage and Tourism Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei will attend a special Majlis [parliament] session tomorrow to reply to “questions, ambiguities and criticism” on recent comments he made, the semi-official ISNA news agency reports.
On Sunday, Mashaei was quoted as saying: “We [Iran] are friends with all people of the world, even the people of America and Israel.”
His comments drew criticism from Majlis speaker Ali Larijani, who said Iran was no friend of Israelis.
Iran has refused to recognize the State of Israel, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hassan Qashqavi reiterated his government’s position today, telling reporters in a press briefing: “The illegitimacy of Zionist regime [Israel] is a policy consensus in Iran.”
Source: ISNA in Persian
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