I keep hearing the Iranian statements as "The Zionist state should be wiped off the map." That is far less provocative than "we are going to destroy it." It is certainly less provocative than what the Israelis themselves are doing to local non-jewish populations. Perhaps the Iranians are looking at what the western European Settlers did in the Americas in 200 years. The European Settlers have only had 60 years so far in the Middle East. It is not unreasonable to see the US Sponsored Israeli colonization of the region as an existential threat to generations to come.