'Koran burning will accelerate Israel's fall, annihilation'

Ahmadinejad says plan a "Zionist plot," Israel, its "supporters are on the path to collapse and decline and such desperate acts will not save them."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Ahmadinejad at NPT 311 (photo credit: AP)
Ahmadinejad at NPT 311
(photo credit: AP)
 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that the planned Koran burning by Florida Reverend Terry Jones will bring the destruction of Israel, according to a PressTV report.
According to the report, Ahmadinejad said that the plan to burn Korans was a "Zionist plot, and against the teachings of all divine prophets."
RELATED:NYC imam says has no plans to meet Florida pastorFlorida minister: Koran burning still planned Obama implores Florida minister to call off Koran burning'Muslims to burn US flags in protest of Koran burnings'The book burning was scheduled for the anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks on Saturday.
"The Zionists and their supporters are on the path to collapse and decline and such desperate actions will not save them, but will accelerate their fall and annihilation," Ahmadinejad said at a Teheran meeting with Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and other leading Iranian officials.
On Thursday Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Israel is behind the planned Koran burning, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
“The software for this plan was made by the Zionists following their defeats against Muslims and the Islamic world,” Manouchehr said in a meeting with foreign diplomats in Iran.
According to the report, the foreign minister also blamed former US President George W. Bush and said Bush's rhetoric after the September 11 terrorist attacks led to the increase of Islamophobia in the country.
“The current US administration should fulfill its duties in guaranteeing the basic rights of American Muslims for avoiding the spread of such inappropriate and devilish moves,” added Mottaki.
Senior Iranian clergyman Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani also commented on the planned event, according to the DPA news agency.
"On behalf of a half billion Muslims, I condemn this savage plan and warn of its consequences," Golpaygani said in a statement on Iran's state television website, IRIB.  "This pastor should be immediately arrested and his church closed down."
The ayatollah said US President Barak Obama would be held responsible if the "gruesome and inhuman act" takes place.