No country can be wiped off map-Iran's Mottaki

DEAD SEA, Jordan, May 19 (Reuters) Iran's foreign minister said today that no country could be removed from the map, contradicting a previous statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel to be wiped out.

''Every primary school student knows that it is not possible to remove a country from the map and that is very clear,'' Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a conference in Jordan when asked about Ahmadinejad's controversial remarks.

''We are not talking about the invasion of any country,'' he said. He added that Iran believed that ''without justice'' no peace plan would end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Ahmadinejad caused an international storm in 2005 when he said that Israel should be wiped off the map. Iranian officials have claimed that that remark should not be seen as a threat.

REUTER AGL KP1602