The time has come for the disappearance of Israel and the West from the face of the universe, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Thursday, saying that they were the "prime sources of tyranny and gloom."

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The comment, by speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Larijani, came after earlier Thursday the head of Iran's nuclear agency said that newly approved EU sanctions against the country's oil industry would not halt the progress of Iran's nuclear program.

Earlier this week, Iran test-fired several long-range ballistic missiles as part of an extensive military drill, with a top officer in Iran's Revolutionary Guards saying that the launch was meant to show to “regional and trans-regional countries seeking adventurism that the Islamic Republic is determined to resist their bullying and will give a crushing and decisive response to any potential act of mischief."

Speaking at a Tehran conference, Larijani was cited by Iran's Press TV as saying that "the time has come for the disappearance of the West and the Zionist regime - which are two dark spots in the present era - from the face of the universe."

“The U.S. and the Zionist regime are the prime sources of tyranny and gloom in the current age. The Muslim world is fed up with the injustice and abuse by these governments,” Larijani added.

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The Iranian parliamentary speaker also spoke on the division of Islam into different sects, saying that this division "within the Muslim world have led to corruption; by sponsoring such sects in the region’s Muslim countries, the West and the Zionist regime are attempting to lead Islam toward deviation."

Earlier this year, Mohammad Javad Larijani, a top advisor to Iranian Supreme Leaer Ali Khamenei, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that Iran does not exclude the possibility of blocking the Strait of Hormuz in response to an attack, nor would it exclude a missile strike on Israel.

"Here I want to copy the wording of [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama," Larijani said, adding: "Every possibility is on the table."



The top Iranian official also referred to the recently cited comment by Ahmadinejad, in which he stated Israel must be "wiped off the map," saying that the remark was "definitely not" meant in a military sense and that such a move was not "a policy of Iran."