TEL AVIV, April 15: Former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, responding to the latest verbal attack on the Jewish state by Iran’s president, said on Saturday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would end up like Saddam Hussein.

In a speech to a conference on the Palestinian issue on Friday, President Ahmadinejad said: “The Zionist regime is a decaying and crumbling tree that will fall with a storm.”

Mr Peres, in a statement quoted by Israel Radio, called Mr Ahmadinejad’s comments a direct threat to Israel’s existence.

“His statements are reminiscent of those voiced by Saddam Hussein. Ahmadinejad will end up like Saddam Hussein,” he said, referring to the Iraqi leader.

“Ahmadinejad represents Satan, not God,” Mr Peres said. “History has denounced mad men and those who waved the sword.”

Last year, Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iran’s official IRNA news agency as telling a conference that Israel must be wiped off the map.

Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly questioned the veracity of the Holocaust, the killing of Jews by the German government during World War Two.

On Friday, he said: “Are the consequences of the establishment of this (Israeli) regime less than the Holocaust which you (the West) are claiming? If there are doubts regarding the Holocaust, there is really no doubt regarding the Palestinian disaster and holocaust.”

Mr Ahmadinejad, a religiously conservative former member of the hardline Revolutionary Guards, came to power last year. —Reuters