Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Sudan late Wednesday that "Zionists are the true manifestation of Satan," state-run IRNA news agency reported.

"The Zionists are the true manifestation of Satan," Ahmadinejad said during the state visit, speaking to a meeting of Sudanese Islamic scholars in the capital Khartoum.

Both Sudan and Iran are accused internationally of supporting radical Islamic movements.

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"Many Western governments that claim to be pioneers of democracy and standard bearers of human rights close their eyes over crimes committed by the Zionists and by remaining silent support the Zionists due to their hedonistic and materialistic tendencies," the Iranian leader said.

Both countries do not recognize Israel, and Israeli citizens are barred from entering Sudan.

Ahmadinejad told IRNA before leaving Iran that his meetings with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir would play an important role in promoting mutual relations and cooperation in political, economic and cultural fields.

Ahmadinejad has made a habit of making virulently anti-Israel comments, calling for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map," among other verbal attacks.

He also has called the Holocaust a myth and held a conference of revisionist historians on the credibility that six million Jews were killed by Nazis during World War II.