Speaking at the traditional Friday sermon and prayer, Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani also suggested to the U.S. Administration to leave the task of the fight against terrorism to the United Nations and allow this organisation to assume the leadership for that important purpose, with the cooperation of other countries.

Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani lashed out at the recent U.S. attacks on Afghanistan but also criticised Muslim states for their "indifference" to the tragic developments in Afghanistan.

"What are you bombing in Afghanistan? A devastated country where there is no electricity, no hospitals, medicine, no doctors, no hope, no work, 800.000 abandoned women and more than 100.000 disabled children?" he said, with a chocked voice and tears in eyes.

"Americans must leave the task of combating terrorism to the United Nations and act wisely, in accordance with a collective decision, and to co-operate in this regard with the sincere nations across the globe", he said.

Iran was among the first nations to condemn the terrorist attacks of 11 September on the United States, but has also denounced the American and British air strikes on Afghanistan that targets civilians, and suggested that the fight against international terrorism to be led by the United Nations instead..

Washington went to war against the Taleban because of the protection it provides to Mr. Osama Ben Laden, the prime suspect behind the 11 September terrorist operations in New York and in Washington D.C.

Iran is ambivalent in joining the American, European and UN-sponsored efforts to find a political solution for the Afghan imbroglio based on the provisory leadership of the former Afghan King Mohammad Zaher Shah, who lives in exile in Rome.

The Chairman of the Assembly of Discerning the State’s Interests (ADSI) also repeated Iran’s criticism that Washington was seeking to "implement its expansionist policies in the region" under the banner of "fighting terrorism" and noted that the U.S. attacks have so far failed to achieve any tangible results.

"Afghanistan has been under aerial attacks for the past twenty days, but the thing to know is what the Americans have achieved so far?" he asked, observing that neither the European Union, nor the NATO, nor even the Arab countries, or anybody else is willing to accept the U.S. solution in fighting the Taleban in this manner.

"No one, including Iran, is happy with the Taleban militant's behavior, but America has exploited the current situation in the name of a campaign against terrorism", he pointed out in a sixty minute speech interrupted by "Death to America. Death to Israel" from the worshippers.

"Defending the Taleban had never been in our plans and would never be, but at the same time one has to say that what America is doing there is the most unpleasant chapter in its history", he argued, quoted by the official news agency IRNA.

He also anticipated that launching ground operations by the U.S. military forces would be another 'big strategic mistake', and cautioned the Americans of the extremely catastrophic consequences of resorting to such operations.

"Checking terrorism cannot be carried out by one or two governments and no power can manage to fight against it single-handedly", the Expediency Council’s Chairman said, adding that terrorism being a global current, its roots, instigators and motives have be identified and fought according to an international plan".

"The attacks currently underway in the war-torn Afghanistan will not root terrorism out, nor they will relieves the pains that the Americans have suffered due to the September 11 terrorist operations", he added.

Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani regretted that by "confiscating" the consequences of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., Washington had "undermined" many world issues but also the benefits the world could have gained "if led in the right direction", as the attacks revealed the "true nature of terrorism and its potential threat to the world".

Elsewhere in the lengthy speech, Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani attacked the "Zionist" (Israel) regime's "profiting" from the present world situation for escalating its "aggressions against Palestinians", and termed Americans' promises to help establish an autonomous state in the occupied territories as a "deceitful political manoeuvre". ENDS RAFSANJANI AFQANESTAN 261001