Terror Targets Condemn Bush's Speech

Leaders of the nations identified by the US president, George Bush, as an "axis of evil" condemned his comments today, while Iran's supreme leader said he was honoured to be singled out by "the most hated Satan in the world".

In his state of the union address on Tuesday night, Mr Bush accused Iran, Iraq and North Korea of supporting terrorism and "arming to threaten the peace of the world."

The Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, derided Mr Bush as arrogant and aggressive and called the speech "an insult to the Iranian nation."

Mr Khatami said at a Cabinet session last night: "We are supporters of peace, a peace based on justice for humanity." Early in the war on terrorism, US officials spoke of better cooperation with Iran. But in the past month, Mr Bush has accused Iran of interfering to undermine Afghanistan's new government, and Washington has been angered by allegations of an attempt to smuggle Iranian weapons to the Palestinians.

Iranian state radio reported that the foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, has cancelled plans to attend this week's World Economic Forum in New York. Mr Khatami said yesterday that Americans should ask their politicians to stop looking for war and help cultivate a peace based on justice.

"After September 11, we felt there was a great opportunity to mobilise the international will to fight terrorism. But, unfortunately, this opportunity was misused and this abuse is a treason to humanity," he said.

The Iraqi vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, denounced Bush's "axis of evil" comment as "stupid", adding that the US administration was "the source of evil and aggression toward the whole world".

The United States also stepped up the rhetoric yesterday. The defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned that the US will watch closely to see what Iraq, Iran and North Korea do next.

He said Mr Bush is weighing whether to escalate actions against Iraq beyond the current sanctions and fighter jet patrols. He also wants to stop Iran from funneling arms to terrorists, and seek to prevent North Korea from developing and selling missiles.

"If I were in Iran or North Korea or Iraq and I heard the president of the United States say what he said about weapons of mass destruction ... I don't think there'd be a lot of ambiguity," Mr Rumsfeld said.

The French defence minister, Alain Richard, told the International Herald Tribune that many of Washington's allies might not support attacks on Iraq designed to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

China, which backed US military action in Afghanistan, condemned the speech, saying such words could "damage the atmosphere for seeking solutions to relevant problems".

A spokesman for the foreign ministry, Kong Quan, said: "The Chinese side does not advocate using this kind of language in international relations."

China's opinion is all the more relevant as Mr Bush is scheduled to visit Beijing in three weeks for talks with the Chinese president, Jiang Zemin.

North Korea itself dismissed Mr Bush's comments as a "US loudmouthed threat" that was intended to justify the US military presence in South Korea.

The Bush administration was quick to point out that no military action against the three nations was imminent, but officials in the Philippines expressed concern that the US could take military action in their nation.