Ahmadinejad slams Obama once again

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again slammed US President Barack Obama yesterday for "interfering" in Iran, as debate over the Iranian president's disputed re-election showed no sign of abating.

Tehran's streets appeared quiet after authorities warned that any further protests would be suppressed.

"He (Obama) who spoke of reforms and changes, why did he interfere and comment in a way that disregards convention and courtesy?" Ahmadinejad asked.

Last Friday, Obama said Iran's "outrageous" crackdown on demonstrators would hit his hopes for direct talks with Iran.

"There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks," Obama said, referring to deadly clashes between security forces and demonstrators protesting what they claim was Ahmadinejad's fraudulent re-election.

However, Obama said talks between Iran and the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany over its nuclear programme were likely to continue.

The United States and other Western countries suspect Iran of using its nuclear energy programme as cover for a drive for an atomic weapon. Tehran denies that, saying its aims are purely civilian.

Ahmadinejad said those Western leaders who made "insulting and irrelevant comments would be put on a fair trial" by Iran at every "international gathering."

"It is enough. Do not disgrace yourself further by such language and behaviour," he said, urging them to "correct" their attitude towards Iran. Last Friday, foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading powers said they were "concerned" about the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election.

"We fully respect the sovereignty of Iran. At the same time we deplore post-election violence which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians and urge Iran to respect fundamental human rights.

"The crisis should be settled soon through democratic dialogue and peaceful means," the ministers said after talks in Trieste, Italy.

Iran regetted the "interfering and hasty position" taken by the G8 ministers, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said.

The G8 statement came after Iran's electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, said that no "major irregularities" were found and that the elections were the "cleanest we have had".

But the commission did set up a special panel to report on the disputed poll and conduct a partial re-count. Yesterday, one of the defeated candidates, Mohsen Rezai, said he was prepared to serve on the panel and called on his fellow losers, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, to join him.