Iran denounces U.S. over Najaf

TEHRAN, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Iran Thursday denounced the U.S.-led attack on the holy Shiite center of Najaf in central Iraq, accusing American troops of desecrating the city's shrines.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asafi was quoted by the Iranian News Agency, IRNA, as saying his government was deeply angered by "American violations of Islamic shrines in Iraq and the escalation of aggression against the residents of Najaf and nearby Kut in which many Iraqi lives were claimed."

Asafi described U.S. "practices as ugly, non-humanitarian and contradicting all international norms and principles."