Iranian Officer quotes, Israel ought to be Annihilated

Soon after the visit of UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, an Iranian official denied that his government's policy towards Israel has changed and said that the Zionist regime ought to be annihilated.

Iran's Fars news agency reported that, the Iranian Parliament Speaker's Adviser for International Affairs, Hossein Sheikholeslam quoted, "Our positions against the upsure Zionists regime have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated and this is our ultimate goal".

Fars also reported that, Sheikholeslam also cited and dismissed a statement Hammond made on his Tehran visit in which he said that past hostilities between Iran and the UK should be forgotten".

However, Hammound stated, "What we're looking for is behaviour from Iran, not only towards Israel but towards other players in the region, that slowly re-builds their sense that Iran is not a threat to them".