BRUSSELS, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The EU foreign policy chief
said on Saturday that comments by Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who called Israel a "cancerous tumour" with no
place in a future Middle East, were "outrageous and hateful".
Catherine Ashton's language was unusually forthright for the
West's chief negotiator over Iran's nuclear programme.
Ashton "strongly condemns the outrageous and hateful remarks
threatening Israel's existence by the Supreme Leader and the
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said a statement by
her spokesman.
"Israel's right to exist must not be called into question."
On Friday, Ahmadinejad told demonstrators in state-organised
protests that "in the new Middle East ... there will be no trace
of the American presence and the Zionists". As thousands of
Iranians shouted "Death to America, death to Israel",
Ahmadinejad called Israel a "cancerous tumour" for its
occupation of Palestinian land.
Earlier this week Iranian media reported that Iran's Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had said Israel would one day be
returned to the Palestinian nation and would cease to exist.
Ashton is acting as chief negotiator for six powers - the
United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain - that
are trying to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear programme
through economic sanctions and diplomacy. They fear Iran's
nuclear programme aims at producing weapons, though Tehran says
it serves peaceful purposes only.
Ashton and Iran's chief negotiator agreed at the start of
August to hold more talks about Iran's nuclear work, but there
has been no sign of imminent progress in the decade-long
dispute.
Ashton "calls upon Iran to play a constructive role in the
region and expects its leaders to contribute to de-escalate
tension and not to fuel it", Saturday's statement said.
On Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the
verbal attacks on Israel were "offensive and inflammatory."
(Reporting By Sebastian Moffett; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)