Iran: Stop Calling Us 'Axis Of Evil'

Former Iran President Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday urged the United States to exclude the Islamic country from its so-called "axis of evil" and warned Washington not to treat Iran the same way it has Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Bush "made a strategic mistake. He should exclude Iran from the circle (axis of evil) that he has made," Rafsanjani told the crowd in Tehran during Friday's prayer ceremony.

In 2002, President Bush branded Iran, North Korea and Iraq as the "axis of evil," claiming the three countries sponsored terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.

Rafsanjani also warned the U.S. not to consider military intervention in Iran, saying Washington's "iron fist policy" has failed.

"It will be dangerous if the U.S. thinks that it can behave toward Iran in the same way that it has treated Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.

"Any nation should respect rights of other nations. Today, negotiations, prudence and wisdom are the solution for the problems in the entire world," Rafsanjani added.

In Washington, the State Department sidestepped Rafsanjani's demand that Iran not be designated as one of the "axis of evil" countries, saying the Bush administration has not changed its policy regarding Tehran.

"The administration has been fairly clear about what it thinks is going on in Iran, about what Iran needs to do to draw itself more into the international community," said State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos.

Iran has said recently that it would be willing to talk to the United States about Iraq and other regional issues if the U.S. requested it. But the White House has said it would only talk to Iran if it first agrees to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, something Tehran has repeatedly refused.

The U.S. and its European allies are currently negotiating with Russia and China over a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would penalize Iran for its refusal to respect an Aug. 31 deadline for halting enrichment.

Russia and China have extensive trade with Iran and are rejecting the harsh sanctions. But the United States and Europe are pressing for tough international sanctions on Iran, which they believe is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and has shrugged off threats of sanctions, insisting that the West eventually will have to agree to negotiate with it.

"In the nuclear case, a difficult encounter is ahead of us," said Rafsanjani. "It will be difficult for the U.S., too. The United States should not pin hope on its veto right in the U.N. Security Council. It is not an angel for them; it is only a temporary solution."

The former president downplayed the affect of the U.S. midterm elections on Iran. During the elections earlier this month, Democrats defeated Mr. Bush's Republican Party and gained control of the U.S. Congress.

"Democrats are a little bit softer, but they are not angels. Do not interpret the win of either parties as very significant," he said.

During his speech Friday, Rafsanjani did not mention an Argentinian judge's request for his arrest and the detention of eight other officials for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires. The blast killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. Iran's charge d'affaires in Buenos Aires has said the judicial case was "fraught with irregularities" and politically motivated.