November 15, 2003	Saturday	Ramazan 19, 1424

TEHRAN, Nov 14: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday described US President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as the most hated men in the Muslim world, saying Washington had been disgraced by its policies in the Middle East.

“Today the policy of the United States has failed in the Middle East and the United States is the country which is the most dishonoured in the Islamic world,” Ayatollah Khamenei told tens of thousands of worshippers gathered for Friday prayers in Tehran.

“There is no one who is more hated than the American president and the prime minister of the Zionist regime,” he said in a reference to Israel.

Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s all-powerful leader who has the final say on all matters of state, was frequently interrupted by chants from the faithful of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America”.

The supreme leader said that in Iraq Washington had “toppled a local dictator only to replace him with a foreign dictator and create this dreadful situation”, adding that “no one has forgotten the support the Americans gave to the regime of Saddam Hussein”.

“It’s very clear that the punch dealt by the Afghans and the Iraqis to the United States has been effective,” he commented, saying this had shown Washington that any military action against Iran would be an error.—AFP