The Spanish government said in a statement released on Wednesday that it completely rejected recent remarks made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Israel.

The statement said that the remarks "in no way contribute" to the peace process between Arabs and Israelis and did not contribute to the Middle East security either.

On Monday last week, Ahmadinejad triggered a new international controversy when he said he doubted the existence of the Holocaust and said that Israel should be moved to Europe, because it was two European countries, Germany and Austria, that were responsible for the death of millions of Jews during World War II.

"Our proposal is that European countries or the United States give a piece of land in their territory to the Jewish to establish their country," he said.

Ahmadinejad had said that Israel "should be scrubbed from the map" less than a month earlier.

His words drew immediate condemnation from UN chief Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council, as well as countries like the United States, Israel, Germany and Austria, among others.

Iran sympathizes with the Palestinians and refuses to recognize Israel, while the Jewish state sees Iran as a threat.