Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s president, defied politicians and senior clergy on Thursday by backing remarks made by one of his closest aides over friendship with the Israeli people.

Although Mr Ahmadi-Nejad is more used to attacking Israel and predicting its demise, he defended Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, the vice-president for tourism, against calls to sack him for saying Iran was “a friend of [the] Israeli people”.