By DPA
Tehran/Washington : Iran rejected US President George W. Bush’s “World War III” warning as “nothing more than a psychological war”, Tehran media reported Thursday.
Bush had Wednesday warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to a third world war because of the Islamic state’s determination to destroy Israel.
“This kind of remarks just reflects US anger over Iran’s success in the international scenery and are nothing more than psychological war against Iran,” the deputy head of the National Security Council, Rahman Fazli, told the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).
Fazli said that Iran’s nuclear programmes were acknowledged by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and even the five United Nations Security Council member states plus Germany have supported the agreement between Iran and the IAEA as the basis for settling the nuclear dispute.
He added that the state visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran was another reason for US anger, claiming that the visit has weakened US status in the Middle East.
Bush Wednesday had said Iran poses a threat to peace and referred to comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said Israel should be eliminated.
“We’ve got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel,” Bush said. “So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
Bush’s comments followed a visit to Tehran by Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday, where he met Ahmadinejad, pledged closer ties between the two countries and stated there was no evidence to support western accusations that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.