Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made these comments at an October 26 Islamic Student Association conference in Tehran on “The World Without Zionism,” which was reportedly attended by 4,000 students. He reiterated the position put forward by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who came to power in Iran in 1979 on the crest of a popular revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah.

Referring to the Israeli regime, Ahmadinejad said, “Our dear Imam [Khomeini] said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement.” He added, “The issue of Palestine is not over at all. It will be over the day a Palestinian government, which belongs to the Palestinian people, comes to power; the day that all refugees return to their homes; a democratic government elected by the people comes to power. Of course those who have come from far away to plunder this land have no right to choose for this nation.”

The student meeting was part of preparations for annual demonstrations in Iran against Tel Aviv. Tens of thousands participated in these actions two days later, on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami criticized Ahmadinejad’s remarks. “Those words have created hundreds of political and economic problems for us in the world,” he said.

Leaders of imperialist governments—including Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, London, and Washington—moved swiftly to condemn the Iranian president. The 25-member European Union, meeting October 27, and the United Nations Security Council in a session the following day, passed motions strongly opposing Ahmadinejad’s comments. The U.S. House of Representatives on October 28 passed a resolution 383-0 condemning the Iranian president’s speech as “outrageous” and “despicable.”

At a news conference with Japanese leaders at the Pentagon, U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice chimed in, terming Iran “probably the world’s most important state sponsor of terrorism.” His statement, Rice said, “demonstrates why we are working so hard to keep Iran from getting technologies that lead to a nuclear weapon under cover of civilian nuclear power.”

In the United States, attacks on Iran came not only from the White House but from Democratic Party politicians and the liberal press. The leading Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, Rep. Thomas Lantos from California, termed Ahmadinejad’s remarks “the most repugnant the world has heard since Adolf Hitler.”

The New York Times, in an October 29 editorial entitled “A Demagogue in Iran,” termed the Iranian president’s remarks “vicious blather against Israel” that is “dangerous, stupid and despicable.” The Times editors said: “Perhaps no one can now pretend that Iran has no hostile motives for its nuclear program,” failing to explain how Ahmadinejad’s statement is evidence that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear arms. “Britain, France, and Germany were right to recall their ambassadors from Tehran. Tough diplomacy must continue to curb Iran’s nuclear aspirations, but there must be no illusions about the ideologue presiding in Iran.”
 
 
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