Iran, Iraq and Palestinian Islamic militant groups reacted angrily today to terrorism accusations made by US President, Mr George W. Bush, while shrugging off his veiled threats of military action.
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Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
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Iranian officials rejected Mr Bush's accusations, made in a State of the Union address, and rose to the defence of Palestinian militants fighting Israeli occupation.
"Mr Bush's objective is to divert public opinion from events in the Middle East and to prepare American public opinion for continued US support for Israel in its repression of the Palestinian people," said Foreign Minister Mr Kamal Kharazi, who scrapped a planned New York visit in protest at the speech.
In his State of the Union address to Congress last night, Mr Bush singled out Iran, Iraq and North Korea as forming an "axis of evil," bluntly warning they could soon become targets in the US-led war on terrorism.
Mr Bush also accused them of seeking weapons of mass destruction. "They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred," he said.
Iranian parliament speaker Mr Mehdi Karubi said "the Islamic republic of Iran has proved it was not a willow trembling in the wind of the words and threats of Mr Bush". He added Iran would continue to support the Palestinian.
Also hitting back at Mr Bush's charges was Baghdad, which in turn accused Washington of state terrorism and of preparing public opinion for aggression on Iraq.
"The United States is the only country in the world, along with the Zionist entity, to practise state terrorism against peoples and governments that do not surrender to US wishes," said Mr Salem al-Qubaissi, head of the parliamentary commission on Arab and international relations.
Mr Qubaissi said the latest tirade against Baghdad was "part of a string of accusations launched by the US administration to prepare public opinion to accept a new attack" on Iraq, and that the weapons referred to by Mr Bush had been destroyed by UN disarmament teams.
Palestinian Islamic militant groups said Washington with its terrorism charges was only providing political cover for its ally Israel.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have spearheaded the 16-month Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, also pledged to continue their bloody attacks.
A senior official of the larger Islamic group Hamas said Washington sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "with the eyes of Israel".
Mr Bush was giving Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon "political cover to kill children and women, to raze homes and besiege the Palestinian people," said Mr Mussa Abu Marzuk, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau.
Washington has included Islamic Jihad and Hamas on a blacklist of organisations whose assets are to be frozen under the US war on terrorism.
In Lebanon, the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim fundamentalist Hezbollah, which is also on the list, charged that Bush was trying to "terrorise" the Middle East.
His threats "against resistance movements in the region show up the hostile intentions of the US administration," said the group, which battled Israel's occupation of south Lebanon before the Jewish state pulled out in May 2000.
AFP