Related:Iran never recognizes Israel: FM

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the conference 'The World without Zionism' in Tehran, October 26, 2005. (Reuters photo)

    BEIJING, Oct. 28 -- Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement that Israel "must be wiped off the map" has drawn widespread condemnation.

    Ahmadinejad made his remarks in a speech Wednesday to 4,000 students attending a conference called "The World Without Zionism."

    Ahmadinejad said that Israel would be "wiped away" soon, denouncing the recognition of Israel as surrender and defeat of the Islamic world.

    "Undoubtedly, the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine and the growing turmoil in the Islamic world would in no time wipe Israel away," Ahmadinejad told the conference.

    In a rare public rebuke of a UN member state, Kofi Annan expressed "dismay" over the comments and said threats of force against another nation were against the UN charter.

    Mr Annan reminded all member states that Israel was a long standing United Nations member "with the same rights and obligations as every other member".

    "I have never come across a situation of the president of a country saying they want to wipe out another country," Washington Post quoted British Prime Minister Tony Blair as saying at a summit outside London of the 25 leaders of the European Union's member states.

    Blair said Ahmadinejad's comment was "completely and totally unacceptable." 

    At the United Nations, the United States ambassador, John R. Bolton, labeled the comments "pernicious and unacceptable."

    In a joint statement, the E.U. leaders "condemned in the strongest terms" the Iranian president's call, saying it "will cause concern about Iran's role in the region and its future intentions."

    President Jacques Chirac of France told reporters that Ahmadinejad risked Iran "being left on the outside of other nations."

    Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Israel, called the Iranian president's statement "unacceptable."

    The Tehran government remained defiant and Iran's foreign minister said mass public demonstrations were planned for Friday in Tehran, the Iranian capital, to show support for the country's president. Enditem

(Agencies)