Netanyahu: Iran's Founding Document Pledges Death, Tyranny and Jihad

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(CNSNews.com) – Speaking before a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the audience that the difference between the United States and Iran is “stark,” because “Iran’s founding document pledges death, tyranny and the pursuit of jihad.”

“I’m standing here in Washington, D.C., and the difference is so stark,” he said. “America’s founding document promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Iran’s founding document pledges death, tyranny and the pursuit of jihad, and as states are collapsing across the Middle East, Iran is charging into the void to do just that.”

Netanyahu said the people of Iran are “heirs to one of the world’s great civilizations.”

However, it was “hijacked” in 1979 by “religious zealots who imposed on them immediately a dark and brutal dictatorship.”

“That year, the zealots drafted a Constitution – a new one for Iran. It directed the Revolutionary Guards not only to protect Iran’s borders, but also to fulfill the ideological mission of jihad. The regime’s founder Ayatollah Khomeini exorted his followers to export the revolution throughout the world,” Netanyahu said.