TEHRAN - Iran reacted angrily Wednesday to fresh criticism from George W. Bush, telling the US president to "open his eyes" and "stop labelling freedom-seeking nations as terrorists".
"America's full support of Israel's state terrorism is so obvious and outrageous that leaves the United States with no right to comment on terrorism," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying in the Iranian media.
"It is about time the US president opened his eyes to the realities and stop exploiting the term democracy, labelling freedom seeking nations as terrorists and following racist beliefs of the Zionists," Asefi said.
On Tuesday Bush said "the time has come for Syria and Iran to stop using murder as a tool of policy and to end all support for terrorism", and added that he looked forward "to the day when the Iranian people are free."
As a key supporter of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Iran has been feeling directly targetted by calls for Syrian troops to pull out of Lebanon. The Islamic republic is also under serious pressure over its nuclear ambitions.
On Wednesday, deputies in the Iranian parliament, which is controlled by hardliners, issued a statement to "congratulate the Lebanese who took to the streets and signal the failure of the interventionist policies of the Zionist and American regimes."
03/09/2005 14:12 GMT