AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the people of Iraq “do not like America,” and dismissed President George W. Bush’s charge that Tehran supports militants in Iraq. BAGHDAD (AFP) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the people of Iraq “do not like America,” and dismissed President George W. Bush’s charge that Tehran supports militants in Iraq.
“Bush always accuses others without evidence and this increases problems. The Americans have to understand that Iraqi people do not like America,” Ahmadinejad told reporters after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad.
On Saturday, ahead of Ahmadinejad’s landmark visit to Baghdad, Bush accused him of “exporting terror” to Iraq.
Speaking to reporters at his ranch in Texas, the US president called on Iran to “quit sending in sophisticated equipment that’s killing our citizens.”
Washington accuses Tehran of supplying weapons to anti-US insurgents and training them. Iran denies the charges.
Maliki said Ahmadinejad’s visit “represents the desire of both countries to deepen the joint interests”.
“We had talks related to trade, industry. This is a very matured visit … in the past there was tension,” Maliki said in an apparent allusion to devastating 1980-88 war between the two neighbours when Saddam Hussein regime was still in power.
