Iran's foreign minister said on Saturday that no country could be removed from the map, contradicting a previous statement made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

"Every primary school student knows that it is not possible to remove a country from the map and that is very clear," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a conference in Jordan when asked about Ahmadinejad's controversial remarks.

"We are not talking about the invasion of any country," he said. He added that Iran believed that "without justice" no peace plan would end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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Ahmadinejad caused an international storm in 2005 when he said that Israel should be wiped off the map. Iranian officials have claimed that that remark should not be seen as a threat.

Mottaki also expressed his country's rejection of the Saudi peace initiative, saying it was bound to fail.

The Saudi peace plan calls for normalized ties between Israel and the Arab world in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, including East Jerusalem, and a withdrawal from the Golan Heights in Syria and some territories in southern Lebanon.

"Despite the good [intentions] of some countries and some parties to protect the right of Palestinians, we do believe that either due to the plans or due to the other side's approach, all of those plans will fail," he said.

"If we talk based on realities, I do not see any chance," Mottaki added.

At its core, the Saudi initiative accepts a two-state solution, which Iran is famous for highly rejecting.

Mottaki said that the important conditions outlined in the initiative would not be carried out.

"No capital for Palestine, no for the returning of the refugees who stand up to five million Palestinians," he told journalists.

"We can recognize more than 132 plans for peace in the last 30 years. Why were these plans or initiatives not met or realized?" Mottaki said. Iran, he added, has proposed a "democratic free and fair referendum" where, in his words, original Muslim, Christian and Jewish Palestinians would vote and choose their regime.

He said his country did not recognize Israel's regime, nor does it view it as legitimate.

Mottaki's remarks did not appear to appeal to Marouf Bakhit, Jordanian premier and Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud, the representative of the Saudi delegation and former ambassador to Iraq who were present at the same conference in Jordan.

Bakhit responded by defending the initiative as the first comprehensive plan that promises a "once and for all" solution for the Palestinian crisis. "For the first time we take the peace efforts in our own hands," Bakhit said, adding this was a "chance that
[Israel] should seize."

He said that Mottaki must have been referring to United Nations resolutions by the 132 plans he mentioned.

From his side, al-Saud said he believed that "the reality says that Iran should be on board. The wishful thinking says why should they?"

"This is an Arab issue. This is a Palestinian issue which should be solved in Arab-Palestinian context. Unfortunately, the Palestinian conflict lends itself to outside interference," said al-Saud, whose strong remarks betrayed discontent with the stringent Iranian stance.

"If the Palestinians were from the very beginning united, we would not face the situation we are facing today."

He said that if Palestinians continued "killing each other," the Arab initiative would not get the region anywhere. "This makes it imperative that we reacquire our fate in our own hands," he said, adding that in this case neither the United States nor Israel would need to interfere.