The “Supreme Leader” of Iran, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, reacted Sunday to the idea recently floated by billionaire Sheldon Adelson , that the US should explode a nuclear weapon in the Iranian desert as a warning to Iran. Khameini said Adelson “should receive a slap in the mouth,” according to the official Fars news agency. “If Americans are telling the truth that they are serious about negotiation, they should slap these prating people in the mouth and crush their mouths,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing a large number of Iranian school and university students in Tehran on Sunday. “A government (the US) which is under the illusion that it is responsible for world and nuclear issues doesn’t have a damn [sic] right to pose nuclear threat to another country,” he said, according to Fars 's English language website. "Today, Americans care the most for the decadent Zionist regime and circles because the (US) administration and Congress are dominated by powerful capitalists and Zionist companies...but we are not forced to treat them with care,” Khamenei said. “We have said since the very first day (of the Islamic Revolution), and we do say it now and we will say it in future as well that that we believe the Zionist regime is an illegitimate and bastard regime ,” he added. Khameini's angry remarks came after Adelson told a crowd at Yeshiva University in New York late in October that the only proper negotiating tactic with Iran would be fire a nuclear missile at a desert location in the country and then threaten to aim the next missile at Tehran. Adelson made the comments during a panel discussion hosted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens and Yeshiva University President Richard Joel. The remarks were videotaped by Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss . Adelson said, “What I would say is, ‘Listen, you see that desert out there, I want to show you something.’ You pick up your cell phone, even at…roaming charges. You pick up your cell phone and you call somewhere in Nebraska and you say, ‘OK let it go.’ So there’s an atomic weapon, goes over ballistic missiles, the middle of the desert, that doesn’t hurt a soul. Maybe a couple of rattlesnakes, and scorpions, or whatever. "And then you say, ‘See! The next one is in the middle of Tehran. So, we mean business. You want to be wiped out? Go ahead and take a tough position and continue with your nuclear development. You want to be peaceful? Just reverse it all, and we will guarantee you that you can have a nuclear power plant for electricity purposes, energy purposes.’"
