Russia condemns Iran's 'wiped off map' comment on Israel

Reuters:

Russia condemned Iran for saying Israel should be "wiped off the map", warning Tehran on Thursday that such comments added to pressure for Iran to be referred to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear programme.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking to Russian media during a trip to Jordan, said the remark by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was "unacceptable".

"I have to admit that those who insist on transferring the Iranian nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council have received an additional argument to do so," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

"What I saw on television was unacceptable. We will bring it to the attention of the Iranian side," he said.

Russia, a permanent, veto-wielding member of the Security Council, has long warned against referring Iran's nuclear issue to the Council or using force against its ally in the Middle East. It has called for diplomatic ways to settle disagreements.

Iran's foreign minister and other top officials were in Moscow earlier this week to drum up Russian support, but Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel remarks appeared to have shaken Russia's so-far consistently pro-Iranian stance.

"We will invite the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation today and will ask him for an explanation," Lavrov said.

"I think this does not add to the efforts of those who are trying to normalise the situation around Iran," he said. READ MORE

A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed Lavrov's comments and said the Iranian Ambassador in Moscow had been called to the ministry in connection with Ahmadinejad's comments.

The United States and the EU suspect Iran's nuclear fuel programme, which it hid from the IAEA for 18 years, is a front for developing weapons.

Washington won a vote at the U.N.'s 35-member International Atomic Energy Agency threatening Iran with referral to the Council -- but Russia abstained. No deadline was set.

Russia, like Iran, has long maintained that Tehran's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, and defended Tehran's right to develop non-military atomic projects.

Moscow has helped Iran build a $1-billion nuclear reactor in southern Iran. The plant is due to be launched next year.