Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has explained how Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ali Khameini, and the regime governing the Middle East country have been hurting Nigeria and several other countries.
He said they deliberately sponsored terrorism in many countries in order to project, enthrone and entrench their brand of radical Islamization agenda.
He also said they publicly vowed several times to wipe out Israel from the face of the earth, pointing out that in such circumstances, allowing such leadership to own a nuclear weapon will amount to Israel signing its own death warrant.
People&Politics notes that Khameini and Iran profess the Shiite sect aspect of Islam while most Nigerian Muslims belong to the fiercely rival Sunni sect.
Speaking during an interview on The Morning Show on Arise News, Amb. Freeman accused Iran of sponsoring extremist activities in Nigeria and other parts of the world, alleging that Tehran supports groups aimed at destabilising countries while pursuing its hostility against Israel.
Speaking specifically about Nigeria, the Israeli Ambassador alleged that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, led by El ZakZaky, receives backing from the Iranian government.
According to Freeman, statements of support from Iran’s leadership, including posts by Khamenei on social media, have openly indicated such ties.
His words: “We know that there are certain movements, for example, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, is sponsored and is backed by the Iranian regime. This is not me saying this, we’ve seen that documented by the Iranian regime.
“The Supreme Leader posted on X his support and his backing there. So that’s very open. And there are other areas as well that Iran is working for, destabilizing, not only Nigeria, but all of West Africa.”
On Iran’s grouse with his country, Israel, Amb. Freeman claimed that Iran is the only country within the United Nations (UN) that openly expresses a desire to destroy another sovereign state, referring to repeated threats against Israel.
According to him, the Iranian government has, over several decades, supported militant groups and terror organisations around the world in pursuit of that objective.
Freeman alleged that Iran has backed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, adding that Tehran was also behind the 7 October attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, in which over 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed at a music festival and communities near the Gaza border, as well as the taking of 251 hostages during the attacks.
The Ambassador also claimed that Iranian activities targeted at spreading instability have been observed across several regions, including Europe, Australia, and parts of Africa.
He said: “The issue here is about Iran. Iran is the only country in the world, in the United Nations, who expressly desires to wipe another country off the face of the earth. Iran has stated its very policy is to destroy Israel, is to wipe Israel off the map, is to make sure they kill every single person; and no regime, no country that has an express desire to destroy Israel.
“And it’s not only an expressed desire, we’ve seen over 47 years, they’ve taken all the actions they can in order for that to happen. We’ve seen them sponsor terror organizations. They were behind October the 7th massacre by Hamas. We’ve seen them sponsoring Hezbollah. We’ve seen them acting in Europe. We’ve seen them acting in Australia. We’ve seen them acting in Nigeria.
“We’ve seen these people acting all across the world in order to spread disturbance for them to try and carry out their aim of destroying Israel, and Israel will not allow another country to have nuclear weapons when they’ve expressly stated they want those weapons to destroy Israel. I think that it is well documented.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: Ambassador Freeman.
