Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi Wednesday denounced as "arrogant" statements made by U.S. President George W. Bush accusing Tehran of attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers these remarks as interference in its internal affairs," Kharrazi said, adding they are intended to divert public opinion from heightened atrocities being committed by the racist Israeli regime against innocent Palestinians in occupied lands, the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) reported.
"Bush is intending to divert public opinion from the Middle East issues by raising up a new subject and thereby pave the ground for the U.S. to continue support for Israel in suppressing the Palestinian nation," he said in an interview with IRNA.
Bush, in his first televised State of the Union address from the House of Representatives chamber on Wednesday, accused Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, of attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction.
"With these arrogant statements, the American government has further unveiled its true image as a hegemonic power that wants to dominate the whole world through force," Kharrazi said.
Iraq
Meanwhile, a leading Iraqi parliamentarian blasted as "baseless" on Wednesday comments by President Bush that Iraq was part of an "axis of evil" developing weapons of mass destruction.
"Little Bush's accusation against Iraq is baseless," Salim al-Qubaisi, head of the Iraqi Parliament's Foreign and Arab Relations Committee, told Reuters.
The Iraqi politician used the expression to differentiate the U.S. leader from his father, former U.S. President George Bush, who led the multinational alliance which ended Iraq's seven-month occupation of oil-rich Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.
"The American administration led by Bush has been threatening Iraq from time to time to prepare world public opinion for a new aggression against Iraq," said Qubaisi. "But such threats do not scare us, as the Iraqi people are well prepared to repel any aggression or foolishness by the American-Zionist administration," he added.
Bush has repeatedly warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein he will face consequences if he refuses to allow the return of United Nations arms inspectors to Baghdad.
Hamas
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement Hamas also rejected threats against it by Bush, and promised to continue its struggle against Israel, one of its leaders said.
"Hamas rejects the unjust American threats, which reflect the hostility of the United States toward our people, and affirms its determination to pursue the battle against the Israeli occupation," Ismail Haniya said Wednesday. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
