Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Wednesday. (AP)

London, Dec. 13: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, yesterday said Israel’s days were numbered in an address to a controversial Holocaust conference in Tehran.

“Thanks to people’s wishes and God’s will, the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards,” Ahmadinejad said. “This is what God has promised and what all nations want. Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out.”

Ahmadinejad has previously referred to the killing of six million Jews in World War II as a “myth” and has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.

His latest condemnation of Israel received warm applause from conference delegates, who included ultra-Orthodox anti-Israel Jews and European and American writers who argue the Holocaust was either fabricated or exaggerated.

His remarks were condemned in Washington, where US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Ahmadinejad’s behaviour was “despicable” and called his comment “absolutely outrageous”. Iran said the conference shed light on the reasons behind the formation of the state of Israel and allowed researchers from countries where it is a crime to question the Holocaust to speak freely.

“Iran is your home and is the home of all freedom seekers of the world,” Ahmadinejad said. “Here you can express your views and exchange opinions in a friendly, brotherly and free atmosphere.” Delegates had earlier agreed to form a “fact-finding” committee to study the Holocaust. Its head, identified as Iranian academic Mohammad Ali Ramin, said its members were “seeking the truth to set humanity truly free”.