Ya'alon: Iran protests will lead to revolution

Last update - 20:15 20/06/2009

By Haaretz Service

Tags: Iran Election, Iran Nuclear

Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Saturday he believes the ongoing demonstrations in Iran over last week's disputed election result will eventually lead to a revolution, Army Radio reported.

"[Opposition leader] Mousavi and his wife have brought a new spirit of openness and freedom," Ya'alon was quoted as saying during a speech in Modi'in.

"It is impossible to hide this energy - and therefore there will eventually be a revolution in Iran. Seventy percent of Iranians oppose the regime of the ayatollahs. I said that when I was the head of Military Intelligence, and I am saying it again now."

Ya'alon has made a similar assessment in the past. While serving as Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, he said in a 2003 interview with Haaretz that "conditions have ripened for a revolution in Iran."

In the speech Saturday, Ya'alon added that despite the internal conflict in Iran, it is unlikely that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program will be slowed down or brought to a halt.

"What is happening now will not change the nuclear issue, but it is still a very encouraging development for the West," he was quoted as saying.

The minister's comments came after Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that the unrest would end within a few days.