Report: Ahmadinejad says Iran's mission is to stop Israeli hegemony

Haaretz:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had an "international mission" to stop Israeli hegemony in the Middle East, state news agency IRNA reported Thursday. "Iran has an international mission and those who believe the country should solely focus on domestic issues are wrong and efforts should also be made to reform international issues as well," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a Tehran mosque on Wednesday. Referring in the same context to Israel, he said that due to such efforts the "Zionists (Israel) who always wanted a country from the Nile to the Euphrates, are now happy with establishing their illegal authority in a small part of Palestine only."

"If we are not present in the world scene, others would eventually make decisions for us," Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad's remarks came before the annual nationwide anti-Israel demonstrations - "Al-Quds Day" - on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which this year falls on October 5. Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day is an Iranian initiative to call an end to Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and for the city to be the united capital of a Palestinian state.