To strike or not to strike? - Peres's flip-flopping rhetorical record on Iran

By AMIR MIZROCH
2009 April 16: "Talk of a possible Israeli attack on Iran is not true. The solution to Iran is not military." April 13: "Sooner or later, the world will realize that Iran wishes to take over the Middle East, and that it has colonial ambitions." April 13: If US-Iranian talks don't soften Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's approach, "We'll strike him." 2008 December: "The leaders of Iran cannot give their children uranium for breakfast." November: "Iran should not underestimate our resolve for self-defense." October: "Our new enemy, the arrogant Iranian leadership... should not rely too much on the element of surprise." September: "The Iranian leadership is obsessed with its quest for regional religious domination. This quest is supported by long-range missiles, enriched uranium and fanatic incitement - all fueled by the excessive price of oil. The Iranian leadership's grand design is to convert the Middle East from a region of nations into one religious bloc. They attempt to impose their version on everyone. Whoever disagrees is deemed a heretic and is doomed to disappear." September: "I do not support a military strike against Iran." September: "The Iranian people are not our enemies. Their leader is a danger to his own people, to the region, to the world... He's a disgrace." 2007 October: "Many intelligence agencies throughout the world have proof that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons for the purpose of war and death. You do not build a missile with a range of 1,500 km. or 2,000 km. if it does not carry a nuclear warhead." July: "Ahmadinejad is an unbelievable joke. He claims he's religious. My impression is that, in his eyes, the nuclear bomb is higher than Allah... He's worshiping the bomb more than he's worshipping the God in heaven." January: "I declare the Middle East free from the threat of [nuclear] destruction." 2006 November: "Iran is a great problem, but not necessarily a great country. In fact, I think it is a very weak country." September: "They want to wipe out Israel... Now when it comes to destruction, Iran, too, can be destroyed, [but] I don't suggest to say an eye for an eye. The president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map. If Iran becomes nuclear, many other countries will follow suit... And whoever will have a conflict will produce a bomb. And finally some bombs will reach the hands of terror." July: "Iran will fall and Israel will rise - no one should have any doubt. We have strong nerves, and there is no need to lose our wits." April: "Ahmadinejad represents Satan, not God. History knew how to denounce madmen and those who wave their sword, and all those who acted this way ended their careers accordingly."