Israel comments 'misunderstood'

BRUSSELS - Iran's Foreign Minister has denied that Tehran wanted to see Israel "wiped off the map", saying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been misunderstood.

"Nobody can remove a country from the map. This is a misunderstanding in Europe of what our President mentioned," Manouchehr Mottaki said after addressing the European Parliament.

"How is it possible to remove a country from the map? He is talking about the regime. We do not recognise legally this regime," he said.

Ahmadinejad caused a storm after Iran's IRNA news agency quoted him as telling a conference: "Israel must be wiped off the map".

- REUTERS