The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Tehran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday rejected the congressional testimony of the top U.S. officials in Iraq accusing Iran of interfering in its war-torn neighbor. He also said the Islamic Republic could help in Iraq if the U.S. and British governments stopped alleging it is fighting a proxy war there by arming Shiite Muslim militias accused of atacking coalition forces and Sunni Arabs. In an interview on Iranian state television, Ahmadinejad said Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker raised allegations of Iranian meddling solely because of the political debate within the United States over the war in Iraq. "These comments are the result of their domestic competition. Our stance on Iraq is quite clear, but they made a mistake and keep repeating it," the hardline leader said in a live interview. "Iran has no need to interfere in Iraq. The Iraqi government and nation are close friends of Iran," he added. Later, in an interview broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 television, Ahmadinejad denied charges that Iran supplies weapons to Iraq's Shiite groups or allows bomb-making technology to be passed to insurgents, saying Iranians don't benefit from having a neighbor in conflict