Iran turns up the rhetoric....

But, he's sort of right - Iran and others have been saying much the same thing for decades and nobody's really said a word.

Iranians on Sunday accused western countries of exploiting their president's bellicose remarks about Israel to turn up the heat on Tehran over its disputed atomic programme.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remark on Wednesday that Israel should be "wiped off the map" sparked international condemnation, including a rebuke from the UN Security Council.

But the uproar has caused confusion in Iran, where such rhetoric has been commonplace since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Anti-Israeli diatribes are painted as murals along most highways and are heard regularly at Friday prayers.

"Our respected president has not said anything new or unprecedented about Israel to justify such a huge political tumult," wrote Hossein Shariatmadari, who was appointed to his post as editor of the Kayhan daily by Iran's Supreme Leader.

"Iran's nuclear case ... could be a reason for the recent clamour."