US, Israel behind Iran protests - Ahmadinejad

IRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States and Israel on Tuesday of staging an anti-government protest in which at least eight people died, saying it was a "nauseating play."

His talk of a theatrical piece "commissioned and sold out" by the country's two arch-foes came as an influential cleric said opposition leaders were "enemies of God" who deserved to be killed.

"Iranians have seen lots of these games," the president was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying.

"Americans and Zionists are the sole audience of a play they have commissioned and sold out. A nauseating play is performed.

Ahmadinejad also hit out at comments made by US President Barack Obama and the British government, who have strongly criticised Iran's crackdown on protesters. "We have advised them repeatedly but if looks as if they insist on being humiliated, we are sure they will be humiliated more than their predecessors," he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy added his voice to the criticism, condemning the "bloody crackdown" on opposition demonstrators and calling for the release of those arrested by the security forces.

France urged "a halt to the violence, the freeing of all imprisoned opposition members and the respect of human rights," said a statement on his website.

Sarkozy also called for an end to the arrests, which he said were only making the situation worse.

But Iranian cleric Ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabasi branded opposition leaders as "enemies of God" whose punishment under Islamic sharia law is death, Fars news agency reported.

TEHRAN, Wednesday, AFP