On 15 August 2012, during a meeting with veterans of the Iran–Iraq War, Khamenei said that he was confident that "the fake Zionist (regime) will disappear from the landscape of geography." In addition, on 19 August, Khamenei reiterated comments made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which members of the international community, including the United States, France, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned, during which he called Israel a "cancerous tumour in the heart of the Islamic world" and said that its existence is responsible for many problems facing the Muslim world.