“How do you reconcile this supposition with the statements of Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran?”
Ahmadinejad is not “the leader” of Iran. Ahmadinejad is the president of Iran; Ali Khamenei is the Supreme Leader of Iran and as such everything Ahmadinejad wants to do has to be approved by Khamenei. Khamenei is the real source of political power in Iran, and commander in chief of the Iranian military. Khamenei publicly repudiated Ahmadinejad’s “Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth” comment saying “the Islamic Republic has never threatened and will never threaten any country.”
Iran is more like the United States — it would much rather fight through a surrogate such as Hamas then risk confrontation directly. Iran’s continued support for terrorist groups is troubling and something that needs to be dealt with, but that is a separate question from whether Iran is looking to go to war with its neighbors.
