Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday denounced international media for their coverage of an alleged assassination attempt against him, state television reported
"Somebody fired one of those firecrackers which have a colourful smoke as a sign of joy and you witnessed what the foreign media made out of this simple event," he said in a ceremony marking national reporters' day, dpa reported
During a trip to the western city of Hamedan in western Iran, a minor explosion led to reports by some Arab media that there had been an assassination attempt against the president. Some Western news agencies also followed the same news line.
Official news agency IRNA dismissed the reports and said a young resident of Hamedan wanted to show his support for the president and "out of excitement" fired a firecracker "like in football stadiums."
IRNA said first the Arab and then Western media "misused" the harmless incident for their own political purposes.
"The Western media then started a news wave claiming that a hand grenade was exploded, dozens were injured, the president survived the assassination attempt and was taken away from the venue with no news about his whereabouts," Ahmadinejad said.
"Nothing had happened, it was just a firecracker, nobody even moved from his place and the people continued to show their enthusiasm (towards the president)," he added.