ABC: Iran's president signals possible acceptance of Israel

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

2009-04-27 05:37:01

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Xinhua) --

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has signaled that his country could accept the existence of Israel, saying Iran would support a two-state solution in the Middle East, ABC television reported on Sunday.

According to the president, Iran would support the two-state peace initiative if the Palestinians voted to approve a peace agreement with Israel.

"Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that," the president said in an interview with ABC correspondent George Stephanopoulos in Tehran on Wednesday.

The interview was broadcast on Sunday.

"We think that this is the right of the Palestinian people, however we fully expect other states to do so as well," said the president, without specifying whether Tehran would accept Israel as part of the "two-state."

Ahmadinejad is well known by his anti-Semitic statements.

In his speech at a UN conference Monday in Geneva, the president, who had claimed that Israel must be wiped off the map, called Israel a "most cruel and repressive racist regime."

Relations between Iran and Israel have alternated from close political alliance during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty to hostility following the rise to power of Ayatollah Khomeini.

After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran cut all relations with Israel and withdrew its recognition of the Jewish state.

Israel considers Iran's nuclear program a threat to its existence, while Tehran insists the program is for civilian use only.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

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