Iran's Threat to Israel
Iran's Leader Calls for Israel's Destruction
Eye on Iran: Why Israel? Why Now?
The hardline leader, who came to power in August, made the comments to students Wednesday during a Tehran conference called "The World Without Zionism," according to state-run media in Iran.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister condemned the comments saying he wanted to "vigorously condemn the remarks made by Iran's president. We are in the 21st century. Canada will never accept such hatred, intolerance and anti-Semitism. Never."
"The comments are all the more troubling given Iran's nuclear ambitions and its refusal to cooperate fully with International Atomic Energy inspectors," Pettigrew said.
"This refusal underlines the need for all countries to stand together to ensure that Iran is prevented from developing nuclear weaponry."
Earlier Wednesday Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos summoned Iran's ambassador to protest Ahmadinejad's comments. In a statement, Moratinos said he rejected the remarks in the strongest possible terms and had called for an urgent meeting with Iran's ambassador in Madrid.
France was also quick to condemn Tehran's lashing out against Israel. "We have noted these press articles reporting the comments of President Ahmadinejad. If these comments were indeed made, we condemn them with the utmost firmness," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said.
Ahmadinejad said a new wave of Palestinian attacks would destroy the Jewish state, and he denounced attempts to recognize Israel or normalize relations with it, the media reports said.
He also repeated the words of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel.
"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," Ahmadinejad was reported as saying.
Ahmadinejad came to power in August and replaced Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who advocated inter-civilization dialogue and tried to improve Iran's relations with the West.
Ahmadinejad referred to Israel's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a "trick," saying Gaza is part of the Palestinian territories and the withdrawal was meant to make Islamic states acknowledge Israel.