“Let me tell you one thing about taking Israel off the map. It was a by-product of the Western media,” Larijani told participants at the World Economic Forum on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan.

“Our president never talked about this issue,” he said of comments attributed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during a WEF session on steps to avoid fresh conflict in the Middle East.

Larijani’s remarks were in response to an appeal from Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat for the Islamic republic to abandon calls for Israel to be erased from the map.

“Talk about adding Palestine to the map and not cancelling Israel,” Erakatproposed as he addressed Larijani, prompting applause from the other participants.

“All the nations on earth today talk about a two-state solution. Be involved,” Erakat said.

Ahmadinejad has earned notoriety for his repeated verbal attacks on the Jewish state and has also provoked outrage by describing the Holocaust as a “myth.”

Larijani said the position of Iran’s firebrand leader was that ”we cannot tolerate a state in which racism is practised daily,” in reference to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its Arab citizens.

Israel considers Iran its arch enemy.