"Israel should be and will be wiped off the map," and "Italian soldiers must leave Iraq," read some of the banners carried by protestors who chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."

Meanwhile, a pro-Israel rally was planned later Thursday outside the Iranian embassy in Rome, despite protests from Iran's foreign ministry.

The Italian embassy in Tehran has not seen such a demonstration in years, though protests have taken place outside other European embassies, including the British embassy.

The foreign ministry has criticized Italy's top diplomat Gianfranco Fini, who along with other Western leaders condemned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent call for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

During a trip to Israel on Tuesday, Fini also said that Iran's suspected push to acquire nuclear weapons should be referred to the UN Security Council.

The Iranian president's words "disgusted the world" and the international community's response should be "clear and steadfast," Fini told the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot.

The Iranian foreign ministry dismissed Fini's comments as "emanating from Israeli propaganda."

"Such a statement being made by the Italian foreign minister in occupied Palestinian territory is an example of indifference to massacre of defenseless Palestinians by Israel," said foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

Fini and other Italian politicians from both the parliamentary majority and opposition were to join the rally in support of Israel later Thursday outside the Iranian embassy in Rome.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called Ahmadinejad's comments "completely crazy and unacceptable", in a television interview screened Monday.

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