In an interview with AFP on Monday, Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar said Saied's comments had been tendentiously interpreted.
"Several days have now passed and now we need to keep a cool head. It's time to reassure (Africans). Messages of reassurance have already been transmitted through official channels," he said.
"There's no question of apologizing, we didn't attack anyone."
Last week, President Saied called for "urgent measures" against "hordes" of sub-Saharan migrants, whom he accused, without evidence, of causing a wave of crime and representing a plot to change the country's demographic make-up.
Rights groups have since reported a spike in vigilante violence including stabbings of black Africans, while migrants say they have been thrown out of their dwellings en masse and handed over to "mob justice".
The African Union voiced its "deep shock and concern" at his comments, urging member states to "refrain from racialized hate speech that could bring people to harm."
According to figures from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), drawn from official sources and confirmed by Ammar, the North African country of 12 million inhabitants hosts around 21,000 Sub-Saharan African migrants who lack full documentation.
That figure, around 0.18 percent of the population, includes foreign students at the country's universities.
Ammar insisted that "there's no problem with legal migrants. In fact, we'd like to see more. (However), illegal migrants should return home, with full respect for their rights and dignity."
He also rejected any link between Saied's comments and recent violence against migrants.
"We shouldn't confuse individual acts with the acts of the authorities. The authorities are taking every measure to protect all migrants in Tunisia, whether legal or illegal," he said.
Ammar, who took office three weeks ago, said Tunisian authorities were "within their rights to raise the alarm when there is an increasing flow of illegal immigrants, with all the consequences that this entails."
According to figures from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), drawn from official sources and confirmed by Ammar, the North African country of 12 million inhabitants hosts around 21,000 Sub-Saharan African migrants who lack full documentation.
That figure, around 0.18 percent of the population, includes foreign students at the country's universities.
Anger against Saied has partly focused on his claim that a "criminal plot" was under way to change Tunisia's demography, which critics say echoes conspiracy theories promoted by the French far right.
Hours after his comments, far-right former French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour tweeted in support of Saied, saying countries in North Africa were "themselves starting to sound the alarm" over the "great replacement".
Ammar said the comment was "just one element" of Saied's address, asking: "Why did the commentators seize on this and make it the central element?"