Iran's former president, Mr Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has called US President Mr George W. Bush rude and impudent for warning Iran against harbouring al-Qaeda fighters.
Mr Bush warned Iran yesterday not to become a safe haven for members of the al-Qaeda network fleeing from Afghanistan or to try to destabilise the new interim government in Kabul.
Iran's Foreign Ministry swiftly denied it had allowed followers of Osama bin Laden into the country and said it was not trying to exert influence over Afghanistan's new rulers.
"How does [Bush] dare speak to our nation in such a rude and impudent manner," Mr Rafsanjani, chief adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a prayer sermon.
"Such threats do not have the intended results", he told thousands of worshippers gathered for the traditional Friday prayers at Tehran University.
Mr Rafsanjani also castigated Washington for what he said was its approval of Israel's continued military incursions in occupied territories that increased the oppression of the Palestinian people.