Iran on Tuesday hit back at allegations from US President George W. Bush that it was harbouring al-Qaeda leaders and could have been linked to the September 11, 2001 attacks, dismissing the claims as "fictitious".
"Any claim regarding Iran's direct or indirect relationship with the September 11 terrorist incidents is merely fabricated and fictitious", foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a statement.
"When it comes to al-Qaeda, we act in line with our interests and our national security," Asefi asserted.
Bush's comments came after the acting director of the US Central Intelligence Agency said at least eight of the hijackers who carried out the attacks passed through Iran but that Washington had no proof that Tehran backed the strikes.
Asefi said the view that this meant Iran had supported the hijackers was absurd.
"What is ridiculous is that these claims come from a country that had itself issued official visas, residency permits and given pilot training to these people," the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA. He also said Bush's criticism of Iran's human rights record was "worthless", saying that the "pictures from Abu Ghraib prison are still in the minds of the international community."
And he said Iran presently had no desire to resume relations with the United States, cut after the 1979 Islamic revolution when the US embassy here was taken over and its American staff held hostage for 444 days.
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