Gantz: Raisi election shows Iran is becoming more extremist

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Tuesday that the Iranian election last week of ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi as the country’s president shows that Iran is headed toward “greater extremism” Israel News reports.

Making his comments during an awards ceremony for Israeli security organizations, Gantz noted, as has the US State Department, that Iran’s presidential election was not a fair process.“A new president was elected in Iran, in elections with the lowest voting rates in some 40 years, lacking public legitimacy, or any message of hope for his nation, ” Gantz said. “‘The hangman’ threatens Iranian citizens first and foremost,” he added.

Gantz went on to assert that Raisi’s leadership as president would lead to Iran posing an even greater threat to global security, and to Israel’s security in particular. “Putting [Raisi] in that role proves that Iran is moving toward greater extremism, expansion, and continued pursuit of weapons of mass destruction that may threaten the world, regional stability, and the State of Israel as well,” Gantz stated. “Any state that chooses to become part of the Iranian proliferation is putting itself at risk, harming its citizens, and acting counter to its own national interest,” he said.

The Israeli Defense Minister emphasized that Israel will not remain passive in the face of Iran’s threats. “Israel will stand firm and will not pass over a looming existential threat in silence. We are preparing and will continue preparing plans to avert it,” Ganz asserted.

In regard to cooperating with allies on the issue of Iran, Gantz added: “We will always share information and knowledge, and keep coordinated with our friends, first and foremost the U.S. At the same time, we will always maintain our right, capacity, and duty to protect ourselves independently. That’s the way it’s been, and that’s the way it will continue to be.”

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