KARACHI, Oct 31: The Consulate-General of the Islamic Republic of Iran has termed the Western outrage against President Dr Ahmadinejad’s remarks, in which he sought wiping off of Israel from the world map, an attempt to pave the way for action against Iran.

In a statement, the consulate described the action as an effort to create new crisis for Iran in the world public opinion. The speech of Dr Ahmadinejad should be viewed as a “natural reaction to the repeated threats from Israeli authorities regarding attack on the Islamic countries especially Iran”.

The Israeli regime, through pressurizing America, tried for years to efface the Islamic Republic from the world map in order to pave way for pushing forward its own aggressive designs, the statement added.

“Those countries and media who through exploiting the address of Dr Ahmadinejad were creating a political uproar against Iran must not forget that Israel had at least 10 times threatened Iran with a military attack and one time with a nuclear attack, but none of the western authorities responded against these threats, so much so that even in the UN Security Council the matter did not come up for a debate,” it said.

Support from some of the western countries for Israel led to encouragement of this regime in continuing with its policy of aggression against the oppressed nation of Palestine in total disregard of international rules and norms and utter ignorance to the repeated UN resolutions. Israel had serious threat for the region and the world through production and stockpiling of nuclear and mass-destruction weapons, the statement added.

The speech of Dr Ahmadinejad focused on the condemnation of the Zionist notion of occupation, apartheid and racism and mainly reflected this principled stand of the Islamic Republic of Iran that Israel was an illegitimate entity, its occupation of Palestinian lands should immediately come to an end, free and fair elections should be held in the occupied territories, Palestinian government should be settled in the Quds Sharif as its capital and millions of homeless Palestinians should return to their homeland.

This stand has been the hallmark of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the victory of the Islamic revolution in this country and it is firmly adhered to that since then.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, distinguishing Jewish from Zionism, has always termed the instability in occupied territories injustice and called for holding free and fair elections for end to this injustice.

The statement pointed out that Iran believed that the result of elections among Jews, Muslims and Christians in Palestinian territory would not allow establishment of a regime, based on a particular race.