(CNN) -- Thousands of Iranians staged anti-Israel protests across the country Friday and repeated calls by their ultraconservative president demanding the Jewish state's destruction. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- marching with the protesters -- signaled he stood by his remarks, even as Iranian officials tried to defuse the issue."My word is the same as that of (the) Iranian nation," he told the official IRNA news agency."They are free to say but their words lack any credit," he said, when asked about global reaction to his comments. During a meeting with protesting students at Iran's Interior Ministry on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad quoted a remark from Ayatollah Khomeini -- founder of Iran's Islamic revolution -- that Israel "must be wiped out from the map of the world." (Full story)But on Friday, Iran's Moscow embassy -- often used by Tehran to issue statements on foreign policy --said Ahmadinejad did not mean to "speak up in such sharp terms."The embassy said Ahmadinejad "did not have any intention to speak up in such sharp terms and enter into a conflict.""It's absolutely clear that, in his remarks, Mr. Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, underlined the key position of Iran, based on the necessity to hold free elections on the occupied territories," Reuters quoted the embassy statement as saying.Ahmadinejad's comments drew swift and harsh reaction from governments in Europe and North America, as well as from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. (Full story)Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in remarks issued Thursday by the Israeli government press office, said he believed any country that calls for the destruction of another cannot be a member of the United Nations.At the United Nations on Friday, Israel's ambassador to the U.N. said the Security Council was addressing Ahmadinejad's comments."We're very happy that the Security Council has taken up the matter of that mad, dangerous and extreme statement we heard from the president of Iran," Dan Gillerman said in an interview."I certainly think that a country whose head of state calls for the destruction of any other member state of the United Nations does not deserve a seat in this very civilized organization."He said it is an indication of the "grave concern" that the international community has about the head of state of one member U.N. state calling for the "destruction" and "wiping out" of another member state."It was just 60 years ago that another leader, democratically elected in a European country, called upon the destruction of a whole people," he said, referring to Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler. "The fact that 60 years later these voices are coming from Tehran (is) very ominous."Gillerman said that Iran has emerged not only as a threat to Israel but as a "global threat."He said Iran is a "terrorist-supporting country, and the statements made by its president illustrate in the clearest way, and without any doubt, what this regime is all about."Meanwhile in Iran, thousands of Iranians rallied in Tehran and other cities across the country part of Jerusalem Day protests.Demonstrators held banners with anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian slogans. One banner read "Death to Israel, death to America," The Associated Press reported.The state-organized rallies were first held in 1979 after Shiite Muslim clerics took power in Iran.Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.