Ahmadinejad never said that, though ironically it was an Iranian news agency that mistranslated him. He was talking about three previous regimes that had falle

Ahmadinejad never said that, though ironically it was an Iranian news agency that mistranslated him. He was talking about three previous regimes that had fallen: the Shah of Iran, the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein, saying that they had "vanished from the page of time", he expressed the hope that the regime that "occupies Jerusalem" would likewise "vanish from the page of time", at no point did he say that Iran would "wipe Israel off the map" The actual speech is relatively innocuous so the warhawks had to spin hard to make it into a direct threat. Now, Khamenei has apparently threatened Israel directly (via Twitter back in November) but he has also issued fatwas against the use and production of nuclear weapons calling them a crime against humanity and Allah. Consistency, much? The difficulty in judging these comments is telling what are threats and what is theatre. BTW, Vice-Premier Shimon Peres did threaten Iran just after the Ahmadinejad brouhaha: "The president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map." -- The Jerusalem Post (2006-05-09). Taking stupid comments like those as direct threats is how pointless, tragic wars get started.