In October 2005, he made remarks to domestic audiences agreeing with Ayatollah Khomeini's statement that the occupying regime in [Israel/Palestineshould] be wiped off the map, citing in his speech that the regime of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Soviet Union as a State and Saddam Hussein's government of Iraq, had been wiped off the map.
On December 8, 2005, he made remarks doubting the Holocaust though a week later, on December 14, he made a similar statement no longer literally denying the Holocaust.
These remarks are generally considered to be in line with his populist voting base - 19% of voters chose him in the first round of the 2005 presidential election.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that the remarks have been mistranslated and misinterpreted in the Western media, and that his aim is only to support democracy in Palestine.
Independently of whether or not his remarks were misinterpreted, the international reaction to his perceived statements was extremely negative.
Seema Mustafa in the Asian Age claimed that Ahmadinejad's remarks relating to Israel and the Holocaust are now used a major reason for an attack against Iran.