Security Council Discusses Statement Decrying Iran's anti-Israel Comments

Xinhua News Agency:

The UN Security Council is discussing a British-drafted presidential statement which would decry the Iranian president's radical comments on Israel, diplomats said Friday. The two-paragraph statement, presented by British UN Ambassador Emyr Jones at an informal council meeting, says the council "strongly condemns" the remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

In the statement, the 15-nation council would also express strong support for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement issued Thursday, which noted that, under the UN Charter, all UN members have undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial or political independence of any state. READ MORE

Ahmadinejad's statement has drawn sharp criticism from the European Union, Israel and many other countries.

At an anti-Zionism rally in Teheran Wednesday, Ahmadinejad said, "As the Imam (Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) said, Israel must be wiped off the map."