Peres backs protests in Iran, hopes Tehran regime will vanish

Last update - 16:08 21/06/2009

By Reuters

Tags: Israel News, Shimon Peres

President Shimon Peres on Sunday lauded post-election protests in Iran and said he hoped the Islamic Republic's government would disappear.

"Let the young people raise their voice of freedom for a positive policy. Let the Iranian women, who are a very courageous group of people, to voice their thirst for equality, for freedom," Peres said in English in a speech to visiting Jewish fundraisers.

"I really don't know what will disappear first, their enriched uranium, or their poor government," said Peres, whose post is largely ceremonial. "Hopefully, the poor government will disappear."

Israel sees Iran's nuclear development as a threat, due in part to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel to be destroyed.

Israeli leaders have avoided taking sides publicly over the protests that erupted in Iran after the disputed June 12 presidential election, focusing instead on what they see as the dangers posed by Tehran's nuclear programme.

The head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, Meir Dagan, said on Tuesday that Iran may obtain the technology to build an atomic weapon by 2014. Iran says its nuclear project is intended solely to produce electricity.