Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the US of bringing terrorism to the Middle East.
He made the copmments on a historic trip to Iraq which he said opened ‘a new page’ in ties between the neighbours.
Hitting back at charges by US President George W Bush that it was Iran that was destablising its western neighbour, Mr Ahmadinejad blamed what it regards as a continuing US occupation.
‘Six years ago there was no terrorism in our region. As soon as strangers (the Americans) put their foot in the region, the terrorists came here,’ Mr Ahmadinejad said.
‘The Americans should change their viewpoint concerning these issues,’ he added in response to the accusations from the White House.
Speaking at his Texas ranch yesterday, Mr Bush called on Iran to ‘quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens.’
But the Iranian president insisted in a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that anti-US sentiment in Iraq was not Iran's fault as Iraq ‘does not want the US.’
Mr Ahmadinejad was on the first visit by an Iranian president to Iraq since the two neighbours lost an estimated one million people in a devastating 1980-1988 war during the regime of Saddam Hussein.
