Security Council secretary says US wants "social disintegration" of Iran.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Hasan Rowhani, has said that President George W. Bush's recent statement on Iran "was rather unusual because it was directly issued by the president himself. It is insulting, impudent, cunning and ridiculous." Speaking before Tehran's Friday-prayer sermons on 19 July, Rowhani said: "In this statement, America and Bush have tried to address Iranian officials in a peremptory manner. They have sought to portray Iran's independent policies as being signs of its intransigence. They have tried to interfere in Iran's security and judicial affairs." Rowhani argued: "America is trying to bring about Iran's social disintegration. What is important amidst all this is that the people should demonstrate their willpower, resistance and desire for participation." According to a report by the Iranian news agency, IRNA, "The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council called on America to refrain from taking hostile measures against Iran so as to improve the prospects for better relations, adding that it had to rescind the D'Amato law, repeal the defence budget allocated to countering Iran and return the Islamic Republic's frozen assets. He also called on America to stop the court proceedings against Iran and lift the restrictions on the activities of American companies." The following is the text …