Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Monday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, should bear in mind that his own country could also be destroyed.

“Those who threaten to destroy are in danger of being destroyed,” Peres said.

In an interview to Reuters, Peres said Iran was mocking the international community’s attempts to resolve the crisis over its nuclear ambitions and that the credibility of the United Nations Security Council was on the line.

In what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has described as a threat that must be taken seriously, Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be destroyed.

“They want to wipe out Israel… Now when it comes to destruction, Iran too can be destroyed [but] I don’t suggest to say an eye for an eye,” Peres told Reuters.

“Israel would defend itself under any condition but we don’t look upon it as an Iranian-Israeli conflict exclusively… [Iran] is basically a danger to the world, not just to us.”