Hossein Sheikholeslam, a foreign affairs adviser to Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani, said Iran still believes Israel should be annihilated. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.org – A senior Iranian official on Tuesday called for Israel’s annihilation and rejected the claim by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond that Iran’s government has shown more nuance towards the Jewish state.

“Our positions against the usurper Zionist regime have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated and this is our ultimate slogan,” Hussein Sheikholeslam, a foreign affairs adviser to Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani, told reporters on Tuesday, the Fars News Agency reported.

On Monday, Hammond, who was in Tehran to re-open the British embassy there, suggested that the current Iranian government under President Hassan Rouhani has shown a more nuanced approach towards Israel than the leadership of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“What we’re looking for is behavior from Iran, not only towards Israel but towards other players in the region, that slowly rebuilds their sense that Iran is not a threat to them,” Hammond said.