Ahmadinejad stood fast behind his demand on Wednesday that the Jewish state be wiped off the map and reissued the call during the nationwide protests today, the Muslim day of prayer.

But in an apparent attempt to blunt international outrage over the President's comments on Wednesday, the Iranian embassy in Moscow issued a statement saying Ahmadinejad did not want to "engage in a conflict".

Marching alongside protesters in downtown Tehran, the 47-year-old former mayor of Tehran and one-time Republican Guard commander, renewed his criticism of the West.

"They become upset when they hear any truth-seeking voice. They think they are the absolute rulers of the world," he said during the al-Quds - or Jerusalem - Day protests, which was among the largest since they were first held in 1979 after Shi'ite Muslim clerics took power in Iran.

His fellow marchers carried placards reading: "Death to Israel, death to America." It is not uncommon for an Iranian president to join marches in the capital. Ahmadinejad was accompanied by five bodyguards, but otherwise security was not out of the ordinary for such an event.

Despite Ahmadinejad's continued harsh attacks on the West, former president Hashemi Rafsanjani tried to turn down the rhetoric, suggesting Israelis and Palestinians hold a referendum to decide the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

"If Muslims and Palestinians agree [to a referendum], it will be a retreat but let's still hold a referendum," Rafsanjani said in his Friday prayer sermon.

The Iranian embassy statement in Moscow said Ahmadinejad "did not have any intention to speak in sharp terms and engage in a conflict".

But that was not the message carried by at least 200,000 Iranians who massed in Tehran to unleashed virulent condemnation against Israel, the US and the West in general, accusing them of oppressing Palestinians and Iran.

Some demonstrators chanted "Israel is approaching its death" and wore white shrouds in a symbolic gesture expressing readiness to die for their cause.

A resolution was read at the end of the rallies backing "the position declared by the President that the Zionist regime must be wiped out".

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, defended his President's comments, saying they represented Iran's long-held policy of not recognising Israel.

"Unfortunately the Western countries have remained silent on the increasing inhuman activities of Israel," Mottaki said at the Tehran march.

Massive al-Quds Day protests attracted at least 100,000 in each of Iran's eight largest cities, according to AP reporters. State television said millions of people assembled throughout the country.

Major rallies also were held in other Middle Eastern countries.

In Beirut, the militant Hizbollah group marked the day by staging a massive military parade in which more than 6000 guerillas marched in uniform through the southern streets of the capital.

The Shiite group, which supports its Iranian mentors, has sought to strengthen its position in Lebanon after the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

At least 30,000 Bahrainis marched in their island state's capital, Manama, burning Israeli and American flags and demanding their Government rescind its recent decision to end its economic embargo of the Jewish state.

The US said the Iranian leader's hostile remarks have served only to underscore Washington's concern over Iran's nuclear program.

Israel said Iran should be suspended from the UN. UN chief Kofi Annan expressed "dismay" at the comments in a rare rebuke of a UN member state.

Russia, a key ally of Iran, summoned the Iranian ambassador seeking an explanation for Ahmadinejad's remarks.

Iran's seven state-run TV stations today devoted coverage to programs condemning the Jewish state and praising the Palestinian resistance since the 1948 creation of Israel.

In Washington, the State Department said it was sceptical the demonstrators had gone into the streets voluntarily.

"I think you have over the past decade seen examples of the Iranian regime organising protests in support of some of their more outrageous policies," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"I can't speak to whether, in fact, that is the case with these particular protests, but I would just note that there is a history of that kind of behaviour," he said.

After Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini toppled the pro-Western Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1979, he declared the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as an international day of struggle against Israel and for the liberation of Jerusalem. The founder of the Islamic regime had also called for Israel's destruction.