Iran's leader hits back at US for 'bloody hands'

The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has angrily rounded on George Bush, saying his arms "are smeared up to the elbow in the blood of other nations".

Mr Bush referred to Iran in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night as "a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people". Mr Ahmadinejad responded by saying that Mr Bush had become President only by "spending billions of dollars and resorting to the court verdict".

At an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency governing board today, Iran expects to learn that it will face the UN Security Council in March, and possible sanctions over its decision to restart uranium enrichment activities.

Iran says it has complied fully with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and claims it is being bullied by Western countries who want to deny it the benefits of atomic energy. The country's head nuclear negotiator said Iran's main enrichment plant was ready for full operation in case of a referral to the Security Council. "We only need notify the IAEA that we are resuming [large-scale] enrichment. When we do that is our call," Ali Larijani said. "If they [report Iran to the Council], we will do it quickly." The Defence Minister, Mostafa Mohammed Najar, warned: "Any aggression against Iran's nuclear facilities will trigger a very immediate and crushing response from the armed forces."

On the streets of Tehran, Mr Bush's comments and the growing international pressure over Iran's nuclear programme provoked reactions from fierce anger at the United States to criticism of Mr Ahmedinejad's government.

"There's a lot of exaggeration about Iran abroad," said Sara, a 25-year-old student at Tehran university. "The elections we had last year were the best witness to our democracy. I voted for Rafsanjani and he lost, but the fact nobody knew who would win was proof we have democracy."

Her friend Azra, a literature student, said: "I'm one of those who shouts out when we have problems here, but it doesn't mean we don't have some democracy. When there is pressure from the outside, the problems increase."

Some expressed fear about Washington's ultimate goals. Anis, a 17-year-old student, said: "We should be afraid of the US after seeing what they did in Iraq. They promised to help the Iraqi people but they just started a war and killed lots of people."