Tehran deplores Clinton's remarks on "military dictatorship"

Tehran on Tuesday deplored remarks by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accusing Iran of becoming a "military dictatorship."

"We regret that Mrs Clinton tries to cover the realities of the US policies by using such untrue terms and regard this as a new form of deception," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a statement sent to international media in Tehran, DPA reported.

Clinton said during a visit to Doha in Qatar on Monday that she feared Iran was becoming a military dictatorship as the Revolutionary Guard takes on more power.

Mottaki responded that militarized US policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon and the killing of innocent civilians "were real symbols of military dictatorship."

"We are certain that the regional countries would never be deceived by such political deceptions," the foreign minister said.

He insisted that his government enjoyed broad popular support, which was manifested in the attendance of millions of Iranians this month at rallies marking the 31st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Clinton also said the US would continue to target enterprises controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, which plays a large role in the energy, missile-production, construction and telecommunications industries.

Last week, the United States froze the assets of a Revolutionary Guard general and subsidiaries of a construction company that it had previously taken action against, because of its alleged role in producing weapons of mass destruction.