Iran's media backtracks on Rohani remarks on Israel

Iranian media outlets were forced to backtrack Friday on their reports of remarks by president-elect Hassan Rohani, who told a pro-Palestinian rally that Israel had inflicted a “wound” on the Muslim world, with initial reports quoting Rohani as saying the Israeli wound "must be cleansed”.

Two days before Rohani is to be inaugurated as Iran’s new president, early reports by Iran’s student news agency ISNA and the Mehr news outlet quoted Rohani as saying: “The Zionist regime is a wound that has sat on the body of the Muslim world for years that must be cleansed.”

ISNA later acknowledged its mistake and corrected its story. Mehr altered its story, taking out the reference to “cleansing” without an explanation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to denounce the Rohani remarks as they were initially reported.