Iran's Supreme Leader has declared tomorrow a national day of mourning for neighbouring Iraq and has accused US-led forces of deliberately attacking holy Shia shrines there, state media reported today.
"The sanctity of (the holy shrines) was once again ignored during the past few days, as the occupiers attacked them again," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
Mr Khamenei said that during the attacks in the cities of Najaf and Kerbala, where the US military has been battling fighters loyal to militant Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, "the hands of the aggressors were soaked once more in the blood of the oppressed Iraqi nation".
Government and religious leaders in Shia Muslim Iran have increased their anti-US rhetoric in recent weeks, incensed by the fighting around some of the holiest sites for Shias.
"The American rulers stupidly think their policy of crackdown and brutal violence will tame the Iraqi nation and make them surrender and yield up their treasures of material resources to the Americans," Mr Khamenei said.
He said US forces "have sown so much hatred and enmity in the Iraqi nation's hearts that they will not be able to feel secure there for a long time to come".
The United States is concerned about Iranian influence among Iraq's majority Shia population and has warned against any attempts to stir up religious tension.