Khamenei blasts West for 'idiotic remarks'

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lashed out at the West on Sunday for "idiotic remarks" over the disputed presidential election, state television said.

Iran has accused Western powers - Britain and the United States in particular - and media of fomenting street protests and violence that rocked the Islamic republic after its June 12 election. Western officials reject the accusations

"If the (Iranian) nation and officials are unanimous and united, then the temptations of international ill-wishers and interfering and cruel politicians would no longer have an impact," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

"Some European and American officials with their idiotic comments about Iran are speaking as if all their own problems have been resolved and Iran remains the only issue for them," he was quoted as saying at a meeting with judicial officials.

"They ignore the fact that the Iranian people believe that wherever they (Western leaders) step politically, that spot becomes soiled," he said.

Khamenei, who has endorsed the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the vote, was speaking at a meeting with judiciary officials.

Western officials were "oblivious that wherever they step from a political perspective that place becomes an untouchable one from the point of view of the Iranian nation," Khamenei said.

Ahmadinejad warned on Saturday he would take a tougher approach in his second four-year term of office to make the West regret meddling in Tehran's affairs.

The Iranian president was speaking a day after US President Barack Obama praised the bravery of Iranians who protested against the election in the face of what he called "outrageous" violence.

Ahmadinejad's main challenger in the election, moderate former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, says the vote was rigged and has called for it to be annulled.

Reuters and AFP contributed to this report