TEHRAN, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Iran's Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in Tehran Friday U.S. President George Bush is wasting his time on his ongoing Middle East peace tour.
In a sermon after Friday prayers, Khatami said Bush's meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders was a lame-duck venture with only a year left as U.S. leader, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said.
"The visit has one undeclared goal: Regaining lost prestige of his defeated party, the Republican party," Khatami said. "Of course in our view, both the Republican and Democrat parties are in the same end and secure the interests of Zionists."
Khatami also discounted Bush's claims Iran posed a regional threat to peace.
"This is also another lie raised repeatedly by Bush and his allies but thanks Almighty no one in the region is ready to hear it," he said. "Our neighbors do know that a powerful Iran is their best friend and it would be to their best interest to be friends of powerful Iran."
Bush arrived in Kuwait Friday and is to visit Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before returning to the United States on Wednesday.
