The Muslim News

Daily Star:

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad openly called Wednesday for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and lashed out at Muslim nations which recognize the Jewish state, setting off a storm of protests. Ahmadinejad's remarks triggered widespread outrage and prompted France to summon Iran's ambassador to Paris.

"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world," the president told a conference in Tehran entitled "The World without Zionism."

Ahmadinejad said: "There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world. ... As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, referring to a slogan which Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini used before his death in 1989.

Ahmadinejad's uncompromising tone represents a dramatic change from that of former president Mohammad Khatami, a mild-mannered cleric whose favored topic was "dialogue among civilizations" and who led an effort to improve Iran's relations with the West.

Addressing some 4,000 students, Ahmadinejad also took a slap at some of Iran's Arab neighbors in the Gulf as they seek to break new ground in their relations with Israel.

"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury; any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," he said.

"Ahmadinejad has clearly declared the doctrine of his government. He is returning Iran to the revolutionary goals it was pursuing in the 1980s," said

Mohammad Sadeq Husseini, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs.

"By these comments, Ahmadinejad is committing himself to those goals. He is also sending the message that his government won't back down."

French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy said he had been informed of the reported remarks and had summoned Iran's ambassador to the Foreign Ministry to explain the comments.

"If these (reported) comments are true, they are unacceptable. I condemn them with the greatest firmness," he said.

The German government said the comments were "completely unacceptable."

The U.S. said the words of the Iranian president also underlined U.S. concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"It just reconfirms what we have been saying about the regime in Iran. It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's nuclear operations," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

Ibrahim Yazdi, a former Iranian Foreign Minister, said Ahmadinejad's remarks harmed the Islamic Republic.

"Such comments provoke the international community against us. It's not in Iran's interests at all. It's harmful to Iran to make such a statement," he said.

He said the comments gave Israel justification for urging the world to take a tougher stand against Iran and refer its nuclear program to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

In Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said: "We believe that Iran is trying to buy time ... so it can develop a nuclear bomb."

"Iran is a clear and present danger," he said at a joint news conference in Jerusalem with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"We believe that the time has come to move the Iranian file to the (UN) Security Council and the sooner the better," he said. But the Russian foreign minister differed, saying: "We rely on the professional advice of the agency (International Atomic Energy Agency). It is too serious (an issue) to be guided by politics."

Together with Britain and France, Germany is a member of the so-called EU-3 that is negotiating with Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

But Ahmadinejad appeared to signal that the EU's policy was effectively dead - asserting that he viewed relations in terms of an "historic war" between Islam and the West. - Agencies

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