(dpa) - Tehran on Saturday rejected accusations by US President George W Bush over Iranian backing for militias in Iraq, Fars news agency reported.
"The latest remarks by the US president are another effort to escape from the realities in Iraq which the American statesmen unfortunately are not ready to accept," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said.
After a meeting Friday with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Bush accused Iran of backing the militias and said prevailing in Iraq was crucial to showing the Islamic state "that they're not going to be able to have their way with nations in the Middle East."
"Whenever facing serious security problems in Iraq, the US makes baseless accusations against other countries instead of adopting logical policies for putting an end to the instability in Iraq and agony of Iraqi people," the spokesman said.
Hosseini reiterated that Iran considered the situation in Iraq as important for the establishment of peace and security in the whole Gulf region.