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http://www.wnd.com/
A radical cleric called Saturday for the creation of a "Greater
Iran" that would rule over the entire Middle East and Central
Asia, in an event that he said would herald the coming of
Islam's expected messiah.
Ayatollah Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi said the creation of what he
calls an Islamic United States is a central aim of the political
party he leads called Hezbollah, or Party of God, and that he
hoped to make it a reality if they win the next presidential
election.
Kharrazi's comments reveal the thinking of a growing number of
hard-liners in Iran, many of whom have become more radical
during the postelection political crisis and the international
standoff over the country's nuclear program. Kharrazi, however,
is not highly influential in Iran's clerical hierarchy and his
views do not represent those of the current government.
Kharrazi's comments were published Saturday in his newspaper,
Hezbollah.
He said he envisioned a Greater Iran that would stretch from
Afghanistan to Israel, bringing about the destruction of the
Jewish state.
He also said its formation would be a prelude to the
reappearance of the Mahdi, a revered ninth-century saint known
as the Hidden Imam, whom Muslims believe will reappear before
judgment day to end tyranny and promote justice in the world.
"The Islamic United States will be an introduction to the
formation of the global village of the oppressed and that will
be a prelude to the single global rule of the Mahdi," the
Hezbollah newspaper quoted him as saying.
Besides Israel, he said the union would also destroy Shiite
Iran's other regional adversaries, whom he called "cancerous
tumors." He singled out secular Arab nationalists such as
members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party in Iraq, as well as
followers of the austere version of Sunni Islam practiced
primarily in Saudi Arabia that is known as Wahabism.
Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations have watched Iran's
growing regional clout with deep concern.
The growing voice of hard-liners like Kharrazi has deepened
worries even if it appears unlikely such a divisive figure would
win the 2013 presidential election.
Still, even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that
he expects the government which follows his to be "ten times
more revolutionary."
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