Egyptian cleric vows to issue fatwa against US

A senior Egyptian cleric underlined the Egyptian people's readiness to defend Iran against any enemy aggression, and said if the US and Israel dare to attack Iran, he will issue a Fatwa in support of Tehran. "If Israel attacks Iran, I will issue a Fatwa to confront Israel and the US," Head of Islamist 'al-Azmiya' stream Sheikh Ala Mazi Abulezam said on Wednesday. "In case of any attack against Iran the Azmiya Tariqat and its followers will have complete preparedness to fight hand in hand with Iran," he added. Abulezam stressed that Tehran is an Islamic capital which should be defended by all Islamic and Arab countries. The remarks by the Egyptian cleric came after Israeli President Shimon Peres said on October 4 that an attack on Iran was becoming increasingly more likely. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Israel's parliament (Knesset) on October 31 in an effort to garner support for a military attack on Iran over its nuclear program. Supported by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu argued that Israel should proceed with efforts to encourage the West to exert more economic and political pressure on Iran. In response senior Iranian officials described the recent threats by the US and Israel against Iran as "foolish", and warned that friends and allies of the Islamic Revolution would destroy Israel before it can make the slightest military move against Iran. "This is just a baseless allegation because the Zionist regime is engaged in a war over its survival in Tel Aviv today," Vice Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi told FNA on Monday. "We're not alone and it is (in fact) our cries resonating in Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, etc," he said. "Now all these forces are allies of Iran and if the Zionist regime embarks on a foolish action against us, it will burn in the fire of the rage of Iran and its allies worldwide."