U.S. blamed for killing innocent Afghans

BEHESHT-E-ZAHRA, Iran -- Iran's supreme leader accused the United States on Tuesday of "massacring" innocent Afghans during its war on terrorism, and said Iran was ready to fight if attacked.

Addressing thousands of people on the 13th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States launched the war in Afghanistan to get rid of Sept. 11 terror suspect Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida organization, but instead massacred civilians.

"In Afghanistan, in the poor and wronged country of Afghanistan, they entered the arena under the guise of combating a group or even a few individuals. They did not get their hands on those individuals, but they massacred many innocent people, bombarded them, killed them," Khamenei said. "...This imposition of violence or expression of violence cannot help America achieve its aims and succeed."

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "The United States helped liberate the Afghani people from repression."

Fleischer noted that Iran played a constructive role in the Bonn talks in December that established the interim Afghan administration and "we expect them to play a constructive role now."

Anti-U.S. chants

But amid chants of "Death to America," on Tuesday, Khamenei called the United States "the most hated regime in the world."

Cars and buses carrying Iranians from around the country jammed the highway leading to the glittering, golden-domed shrine of Khomeini, where Khamenei spoke.

Iran and the United States have had no relations since the 1979 revolution, when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters, has repeatedly ruled out talks with Washington, despite calls by some reformist lawmakers.