Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said his country will not "provide any help to America or its allies in their attack" against Afghanistan, according to state radio.
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Iran's President Mohammad Khatami smiles while attending a meeting with a European delegation in Tehran today. He said his US counterpart George W. Bush "arrogant" for "thinking he can distinguish between good and bad on his own".
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"You, who have always caused blows to Iran's interests, how dare you request help in order to attack the innocent Muslim nation of Afghanistan which has suffered and which is our neighbour," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Iran was swift to condemn the attacks on the United States raising hopes of a warming of relations between the two, following the severance of diplomatic relations between the two since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
A visit by the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw yesterday, increased speculation that Iran was willing to endorse US action.
However, even the more moderate President Mohammad Khatami branded his US counterpart George W. Bush "arrogant" for "thinking he can distinguish between good and bad on his own", the state news agency IRNA said.
President Khatami said: "A powerful human being can become so arrogant, that he thinks he can distinguish between good or bad on his own."
He said Mr Bush's remark that "you are either with us, or with the terrorists," was "the worst kind of division, and I hope that it was a mistake on his part."
AFP