Iran Leader 'Disgusts' US Over Sharon

The Daily Telegraph:

The US this morning blasted as "hateful and disgusting" remarks by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hoping that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon does not survive his massive stroke. "This is a man who wraps himself in the cloak of a peaceful religion, Islam, and yet you hear remarks like this coming from him," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. READ MORE

The ISNA student news agency in Tehran quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as wishing Mr Sharon dead after the Israeli leader suffered a severe brain haemorrhage yesterday. Mr Sharon, 77, is fighting for his life in a Jerusalem hospital.

"I can only say that those remarks are hateful and disgusting. And I think that it is, again, a window into the true nature of this particular Iranian Government," Mr McCormack said.

Mr Ahmadinejad has already drawn world condemnation for calling for Israel to be wiped off the map and for branding the Holocaust, in which six million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, a myth.

Mr McCormack said the latest comments on Mr Sharon were more of the same.

"I think this is part of a continuing stream of hateful invective that has come from this president."

The US has pressed complaints against Iran on several other fronts, including Tehran's suspected nuclear arms program and its support for Palestinian militants and Iraqi insurgents.