Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday accused Western countries of helping Israel with its violence against Islamic states.

"Some western countries have long been supporting certain anti-Islamic regime. They provide the regime even with ammunition so that it can do bloody crimes against Islamic countries," Ahmadinejad told a press conference in Tehran.

"The regime has been opposing Iran and the Islamic world, but now, when we are against their criminal behaviors, they (the western countries) are criticizing us," Ahmadinejad said. When asked to comment on his statement last October that Israel should be "wiped off the map", Ahmadinejad said that "compared to the map of 50 years ago, in fact they have wiped off Palestine."

The hardline Iranian president dismissed the Nazi Holocaust of six million Jews in World War Two as a "myth" in December, saying that Israel should be moved to Europe or Alaska, which has sparked worldwide condemnation.

Iran has refused to acknowledge the Jewish state's right to exist since the Islamic revolution in 1979 while Israel echoes the United States' accusation that Iran is building nuclear weapons secretly and sponsoring terrorists.

Source: Xinhua