Annan calls off Iran visit after 'wipe out Israel' speech

United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has cancelled a trip to Iran in response to increasing tension over the Iranian president’s call for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.

Annan decided it was “not an appropriate time” for him to go to Iran, citing the “ongoing controversy” over Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks last week, according to a statement from the secretary-general’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.