IRAN’S hardline president provoked international outrage yesterday by saying that the “tumour” of Israel should be moved to Europe to foster peace in the Middle East.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also expressed doubt that the Holocaust had happened, prompting angry reactions from America, Germany and Israel.

The remarks are likely to cause dismay in Tehran, where senior regime figures have complained that Mr Ahmadinejad’s inexperience, zeal and strident rhetoric are damaging Iran’s national interests. There had been predictions that powerful pragmatic conservatives would rein him in, but Mr Ahmadinejad has so far remained defiant.

“Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail,” Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iran’s official news agency as telling a news conference in the Saudi Arabian holy city of Mecca.

“Although we don’t accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question to the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?” he said. “If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces — like in Germany, Austria or other countries — to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it,” he added.

“Why do they insist on imposing themselves on other powers and creating a tumour so there is always tension and conflict?”

His remarks came two months after he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.

Mark Regev, Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “This is not the first time, unfortunately, that the Iranian President has expressed the most outrageous ideas concerning Jews and Israel.”

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said: “It just further underscores our concerns about the regime in Iran and it’s all the more reason why it’s so important that the regime not have the ability to develop nuclear weapons.”

Mr Ahmadinejad, who won a surprise election victory in June, repeated Iran’s proposal that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be resolved by a referendum of all those living in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

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