Iran said on Saturday that it will not attack Israel and will abide by the United Nations charter but refused at the same time to accept UN criticism on its president's anti-Israeli comments, the official IRNA news agency reported.

IRNA quoted a statement by the Foreign Ministry as saying that the Islamic republic has no intention to resort to force against any country as spelled out in the UN charter.

Iran's declaration came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Israel would be "wiped off the map" soon and slammed the recognition of Israel as a surrender of the Islamic world.

Ahmadinejad's remarks drew immediate denouncement from the European Union, the United States, Japan, Russia and several other countries.

Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, also said on Thursday that he was dismayed by Ahmadinejad's remarks.

The UN Security Council on Friday issued a statement condemning the hardline president's comments.

IRNA quoted the ministry's statement as saying that the UN statement was unacceptable, which was aimed at presenting a false picture to cover Israel's crimes in reality.

The statement also expressed surprise that the Security Council "failed to condemn the repeated threats of military attacks on Iran made by the United States and Israel."

On Friday, Ahmadinejad defended his anti-Israeli remarks as just and right, saying his words "are the same as those of the Iranian nation."

Iran holds a sympathetic attitude towards Palestinians' struggle for statehood and refuses to acknowledge the Jewish state, terming Israel as enemy of the whole Islamic world.

Source: Xinhua