New York/Washington  - The United Nations Thursday said it stood by remarks of UN officials who criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his provocative remarks at the UN conference on racism earlier this week in Geneva.

A UN spokesperson confirmed that Iran had submitted a letter of complaint about remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

On Monday, Ahmadinejad said that Palestinians had been "made homeless" following World War II "under the pretext of Jewish suffering" and that there was a "racist regime in Palestine."

In addition to walkouts by multiple countries, the speech provoked condemnation from the UN officials.

"I deplore the use of this platform by the Iranian President to accuse, divide and even incite," Ban said Monday. "This is the opposite of what this conference seeks to achieve."

Pillay said she was "shocked and deeply saddened by everything he said."

Farhan Haq, a spokesman in the secretary general's office, told the German news agency dpa that Ban had not yet seen the letter because he was travelling.

"From our standpoint, we are not changing anything in terms of what the secretary general said. We stand by his statement and by that of High Commissioner for Human Rights Pillay on Monday ... about President Ahmadinejad," Haq said. (dpa)