Iran on Thursday denounced a warning by US President George W. Bush that the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities could lead to World War III, saying the statement was warlike rhetoric geared at diverting US attention from White House failures in Iraq.
Bush gestures during a press conference in the briefing room of the White House.
Photo: AP
"The expression by the US president will eventually cause international insecurity. This sort of policy will jeopardize peace and security at the international level, and is a barrier for peace," the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said in a statement.
Hosseini said the US president was resorting to "warlike rhetoric" to divert the American public's attention from White House failures on international issues such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, President Bush warned that a nuclear Iran could ignite a world war.
"I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," Bush said.
Tensions are high between Iran and the US over Washington's allegations that Teheran is secretly trying to develop nuclear bombs and supplying Shiite militias in Iraq with deadly weapons that kill US troops. Iran denies both claims.
Iran and the US cut off diplomatic relations in 1979 after Iranian militant students seized the US Embassy and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the country's Islamic Revolution.
