The New York Times today has a story with a scary headline: “Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Israel Won’t Exist in 25 Years.” The first sentence repeats the idea that Iran’s leaders don’t want “Israel” to be around much longer.

Iran’s supreme leader predicted Wednesday that Israel would not exist in 25 years, . . .

This sounds alarming unless you’re familiar with the way the mainstream press has twisted Iranian leaders’ statements in the past. So patience is required because in the third paragraph Ayatollah Khamenei makes clear that he means not “Israel” but the “Zionist regime.”