Ahmadinejad attacks Israel again after UN walkout

Tehran: Iran's president accused Israel on Wednesday of "brutal acts" and "ethnic cleansing" against the Palestinians, two days after his denunciation of the Jewish state as racist prompted a walkout from a UN meeting on race.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a conference in Tehran on Israel's "genocide and war crimes" in Gaza that Israeli "criminals" should be brought to justice for the war in the Palestinian coastal strip in January.

He said Iran, Israel's arch-foe, had submitted requests for the arrests of 25 "Zionist war criminals" to Interpol. Iran often refers to Israel as the "Zionist regime". Iran had previously announced that it had taken such action with Interpol.

"[They] must be held accountable for all their brutality," Ahmadinejad told the meeting of prosecutors from Islamic countries in a speech broadcast live on state television. "The Islamic Republic of Iran ... expects this organisation to fulfil its legal duties," he said.

His comments were translated by Iran's English-language Press TV.

On Monday the Iranian president, who has in the past raised doubts about the Nazi Holocaust, denounced Israel at a UN conference on racism as a "totally racist government" founded "on the pretext of Jewish sufferings".

Ahmadinejad's comments caused European countries not already boycotting the conference to walk out but drew applause from Islamic delegations.