Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei outlines plan to 'eliminate' Israel

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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has outlined a nine-step plan to “eliminate” Israel.

The Supreme Leader of Iran’s official Twitter account has posted a set of answers to what are described as the “key questions”, saying that Israel is guilty of a host of “crimes”.

The first question asked is: “Why should the Zionist regime be eliminated?” To this, the response is given: “During its 66 years of life so far, the fake Zionist regime has tried to realise its goals by means of infanticide, homicide, violence and iron fist while boasts [sic] about it blatantly”.

However the statement adds that “the elimination of Israel does not mean the massacre of the Jewish people in this region”.

The statement proposes a referendum in which “all the original people of Palestine including Muslims, Christians and Jews” could vote, but from which “Jewish immigrants” would be excluded.

It says the theoretical resultant government would then decide upon whether the latter group could remain in the country.

But it goes on to say that if such a referendum cannot be achieved then “powerful confrontation and resolute and armed resistance” is the only solution, as compromise is not possible.

The comments come just days after it was reported that Barack Obama wrote to Khamenei to point out Iran and the United States’ shared interest in fighting Isis militants.

The US President reportedly said co-operation was dependent upon Iran reaching a deal on its nuclear weapon programme.

In July Khamenei described Israel as a “rabid dog” for its bombardment of Gaza. He criticised the US and Europe or what he claimed were their efforts to limit the military capacity of Palestinian fighters as the conflict between Israel and Hamas raged on.