04 June 2004	Friday	15 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

TEHRAN, June 3: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Iraq's new caretaker administration on Thursday as a "lackey" government at the beck and call of the United States.

However, he did not explicitly rule out a dialogue with the new Iraqi team, which a top security official and the foreign ministry have still praised as a "step towards a return to sovereignty".

"Humiliating Iraqi men, raping Iraqi women, breaking down the doors of Iraqi homes and installing a lackey government, that's what happens when you remove the clergy from politics," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a keynote speech marking the 15th anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

His comments sparked chants of "Death to the United States", "Death to England," from the tens of thousands gathered at Ayatollah Khomenei's mausoleum. -Reuters