Washington, 13 April (WashingtonTV)—Israel’s President Shimon Peres said on Monday that Iran aspired to control the Middle East, in his first comments on Egypt’s efforts against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.
Egyptian authorities have arrested 49 alleged Hezbollah agents and charged them with plotting to attack Egyptian institutions and Israeli tourists and espionage.
“Sooner or later, the world will realize that Iran wishes to take over the Middle East, and that it has colonial ambitions,” Peres said after meeting with the country’s top rabbis, reports the YNet News website.
“The conflict between an Arab-Sunni Middle East and an Iranian minority that wants to conquer it is inevitable,” he added, calling Hezbollah “an Iranian agent”.
Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, confirmed on Friday that one of the 49 men detained by Cairo was a member of the militant group, but said that he was working to move weapons to Palestinian militants in Gaza.
On Sunday, Peres said that the Egyptian arrests were a blow to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Ahmadinejad recruits forces against us, but there are also forces against him,” Peres said in an interview with Kol Hai Radio, according to the Jerusalem Post.
In that same interview, Peres voiced hope that Iran would accept the United States’ call for dialogue, but warned that if such talks don’t soften Ahmadinejad’s approach, “we’ll strike him”.
While refusing to go into detail about Israel’s capacity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, Peres did say that Israel could not carry out any attack against the Islamic Republic without the U.S., reports the Jerusalem Post.
Last week, US Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview with CNN that Israel would be “ill advised” to launch a military strike against Iran.
Sources: YNet News, Jerusalem Post, CNN News
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