Iran's supreme leader accused the United States on Wednesday of war-mongering and of turning the Gulf into an "arms depot," hitting back at U.S. accusations that the Islamic state was moving toward a military dictatorship, Reuters reported.
The comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were the latest sign of growing tensions between Tehran and Washington, which are embroiled in a long-running and escalating row over Iranian nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.
The United States is leading a push for the U.N. Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, which says its nuclear program is solely to generate electricity so it can export more of its oil and gas.
Last month, U.S. officials said the United States had expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Gulf -- a waterway crucial for global oil supplies -- to counter what it sees as Iran's growing missile threat.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday the United States believed Iran's Revolutionary Guards were driving the country toward military dictatorship and should be targeted in any new U.N. sanctions.
In an apparent reference to Clinton's visit to the Middle East earlier this week, Khamenei said the Americans had dispatched "their agent" to the region to accuse Iran's Islamic system of government.
"But no one believes these lies because they know that America is the real war-mongering state. They have turned the Persian Gulf into an arms depot," Khamenei said.
"They invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and are now accusing the Islamic Republic. Everybody knows that the Islamic Republic is for peace and brotherhood among all Islamic states in the world," Khamenei said, state television reported.
