I actaully heard on a news broadcast a while back, I forget which one, that the original translation of Ahmadinejad's statement 2 years ago was incorrect. When he supposedly said "whipe Israel off the map", some have argued that the translation was faulty and he was actually saying something more to the effect of "whipe away" the Israeli regime. I don't know if this is correct so don't quote me on it later, but if so it's really no more extreme than the western allied nations talking about whiping away the Iranian regime.

This current statement seems to be of the same effect, referring to removing the current regime and putting in place the "right" one, albeit probably some piece of crap Sharia-law governed state. I've yet to see a direct statement that the Iranian government actually wants to destroy Israel itself, though I wouldn't be surprised if they did considering the terrorist and war efforts they support financially and through munitions. Until we do though, I think we shoul be careful about jumping on any statement and declaring them evil in league with Satan before all the facts are apparents. We do after all, just like in every nation, get fed the view of our (potential) opponents that we're supposed to see, not necessarily the accurate portrayal. Diplomacy should never be taken off the table.