Amid mounting domestic pressure on his government at least 40 members of Iran’s parliament have called for President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to be summoned over pro-Israel comments made by one of his closest aides.

No parliament has used this constitutional right against the head of the government since 1981. But local newspapers on Monday reported that the parliamentarians, most of whom remain anonymous, had signed a petition demanding that he answer questions in parliament after last month’s comments by Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, vice-president for tourism affairs, who said Iran was a “friend of the Israeli people”.