Iran has said that UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan's decision to cancel his Tehran trip was made under the call of the country, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

Tehran had instructed its mission at the UN to asked Annan to postpone his visit originally scheduled at mid-November "to a more suitable opportunity", an informed source at the Iranian Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying.

Annan's spokesman Stepane Dujarric announced on Friday that Annan and the Iranian government had mutually agreed that "this is not an appropriate time for him to travel to Iran."

"In light of the ongoing controversy, it would have been difficult to advance the agenda that the secretary-general had wanted to discuss with the Iranian leadership," Dujarric said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Oct. 26 that Israel should be "wiped away from the map", upon which Annan expressed feeling of dismay.

A number of US lawmakers had urged Annan to cancel his visit in protest against Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel remarks.

Source: Xinhua