US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran today of being the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, a charge that his Iranian counterpart rejected as "ridiculous" and "outrageous".
"The Iranian regime is today the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism," Rumsfeld told an annual security conference in Munich where talk of Iran's nuclear programme was at the top of the agenda.
"The world does not want, and must work together to prevent, a nuclear Iran," he said.
Mr Rumsfeld spoke just before the UN's nuclear watchdog decided to report Iran, which Washington and the European Union fear is covertly developing atomic weapons, to the UN Security Council.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceful. "We must continue to work together to seek a diplomatic solution to stopping the development of (Iran's) uranium enrichment programme," Mr Rumsfeld said.
Enrichment can make fuel for atomic power plants or weapons.
"While we oppose the actions of Iran's regime, we stand with the Iranian people who want a peaceful democratic future.
They have no desire to see the country they love isolated from the rest of the civilised world," he said.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar was quoted by Iranian state television as saying Rumsfeld's comments were "outrageous remarks and a ridiculous projection by the White House leaders."
"Rumsfeld had better try to act responsibly for the disgrace of attacking Afghanistan and Iraq, because the people of the world will never forget the torturing of the prisoners of Abu-Ghraib," he said.