By NNN-Bernama
Madrid : Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has described as unacceptable the remark by US President George W Bush that Iran is the leading state sponsor of world terror.
“Surely this remark will not be well received by Islamic countries and will give rise to polemics among them.
“We Malaysians too disagree with the remark,” said the premier, now on a working visit to Spain Monday.
Bush, in his keynote address during his tour of the Middle East and the Gulf States said in Abu Dhabi on Sunday that Iran was threatening security around the world by backing ‘extremists’ and urged its Gulf Arab allies to “confront this danger before it is too late.”
He had also accused Iran of undermining peace by supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine and Syiah militants in Iraq.
“Iran is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. It sends hundreds of millions of dollars to extremists around the world while its own people face repression and economic hardship at home,” said Bush.
The message is seen as seeking to find new ways to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme.
Bush’s administration has long accused Tehran of developing nuclear weapons despite a report last month by 16 US intelligence agencies saying they believed the programme has been stopped in 2003.