Iran leader's words 'sicken' UK

BBC News:

Britain is to summon a top Iranian diplomat to protest against his president's comments about Israel.

Hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".

The Foreign Office will call in Iran's London chargé d'affaires on Thursday. It said the comments were "deeply disturbing and sickening". READ MORE

The US said they highlighted concerns about Iran's nuclear plans, which Iran says are for peaceful purposes only.

'Horrible reality'

Mr Ahmadinejad made his comments at a conference in the Iranian capital Tehran entitled The World without Zionism.

He said Israel's establishment was "a move by the world oppressor (the West) against the Islamic world".

Referring to Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Mr Ahmadinejad said: "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

At least five people were killed and up to 30 wounded in what police say was a suicide bomb attack in Hadera, northern Israel on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said it carried out the attack in revenge for Israel's killing of its senior leader, Luay Saadi, on Monday.

Israel reacted by approving a military operation against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the Hadera bombing showed "the horrible reality of the violence he [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] is praising".

Mr Ahmadinejad came to power earlier this year, replacing Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who attempted to improve Iran's relations with the West.