Tens of thousands of Iranians staged anti-Israel protests across the country yesterday and repeated calls by their ultraconservative president demanding the Jewish state's destruction.
World leaders condemned remarks made on Wednesday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who repeated the words of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, by saying: "Israel must be wiped off the map."
Iran's Embassy in Moscow, however, tried to soften the impact of Ahmadinejad's comments, releasing a statement on Friday saying the president "did not have any intention to speak in sharp terms and engage in a conflict."
But the president joined thousands of Iranians in one of multiple street protests being held in the capital, Tehran, yesterday. Rallies were being held in other cities such as Mashad in Iran's east.
State-run TV showed Ahmadinejad surrounded by protesters, many holding banners carrying anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian slogans including "Death to Israel, death to America."
Young girls wearing head-to-toe black chadors with green headbands covered in Islamic verses chanted anti-Israeli slogans below a banner showing caricatures of US President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon
The demonstrations are being held as part of annual al-Quds -- Jerusalem -- Day protests, which were first held in 1979 after Shiite Muslim clerics took power in Iran.
The state-organized rallies are expected to grow throughout the day ahead of midday prayer sermons across Iran. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have attended previous protests.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki defended his president's comments, saying they represented Iran's long-held policy of not recognizing Israel.
"Unfortunately the Western countries have remained silent on the increasing inhuman activities of Israel," Mottaki told Associated Press Television News (APTN) during a Tehran march.
Shiite cleric Saeed Farahani also accused the West of blowing Ahmadinejad's comments out of proportion.
"They [the West] are now stressing on the president's comment about Israel and when it's finished they will stress on other issues to isolate our country," Farahani told APTN. "This is a fight between right and wrong and this fight will never end."
Countries from Britain and Russia denounced Ahmadinejad's comments. The US said the Iranian leader's hostility underscored Washington's concern over Iran's nuclear program. Israel said the Persian state should be suspended from the UN.
Iran's embassy in Moscow said that Ahmadinejad "underlined the key position of Iran, based on the necessity to hold free elections on the occupied territories."
The statement came after Moscow, a key ally of Iran, summoned the Persian state's ambassador seeking an explanation for Ahmadinejad's remarks.
Iran's seven state-run TV stations devoted coverage yesterday to programs condemning the Jewish state and praising the Palestinian resistance since the 1948 creation of Israel.
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Iran's president has bark, but his bite has limits
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