"The mullahs have deliberately created all this havoc to mobilise the public opinion behind them at a time that they realise the people have repudiated them", commented one student contacted by telephone from Paris.

Reacting to the remarks, Iranian leading tenors, including Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic described President Bush as a man "thirsty of human blood" and the United States as "the big Satan".

The strongest verbal attack came from Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the hard line Secretary to the leader-controlled Council of Guardians who, during the Friday sermon tagged President Bush as being "totally mad", perhaps suffering from insanity", adding that his (State of the Union) speech surprised all sane individuals.

"The American president threatens some countries and nations and accuses them of being evil, while most of terrors, opposition to popular movements, support for unpopular regimes, sales of lethal weapons and plundering the wealth of other nations in recent years have all been carried out by America", Mr. Khameneh’i said, adding that by openly supporting the "atrocious Zionist regime and the Israeli crimes against the innocent Palestinian people, America has "removed thick veils of hypocrisy from its face and revealed its true self".

Iran was among the first nations to condemn the attacks, attributed to "Al-Qa’eda" organisation, as a "terrorist operation" and allowed people, mostly youngsters, to organise candlelight vigils in memory of the victims, but the staunchly Anti-American Khameneh’i put a brake to the popular support with a series of fiery speeches condemning American military intervention in Afghanistan and rejecting Iran’s participation in the US-led campaign against international terrorism.

As his verbal vituperations against the United States continued unabated, Washington counter-charged, accusing Iran of destabilising the UN-installed interim government of Mr. Hamid Karzai in Kabol by providing arms, money and logistics to local Afghan commanders in the western Province of Heart that border Iran, sheltering some "Al-Qa’eda" terrorists and smuggling modern weapons, including anti-tank and anti-helicopter rockets and missiles to the Palestinian Authority of Mr. Yaser Arafat.

Dr. Rasool Nafici, a professor of international politics in the United States says not only Iranian diplomacy is very weak, but also backward, lacks clear strategy and is behind international events or at best, try to copy old and inefficient tactics.

"For years, Iran wisely avoided the Middle East quagmire, but the present regime has plunged the country in the conflict by antagonising both Israel and the United States" he observed in interview with the Persian and Poshtoon service of the BBC, condemning the "palestinisation" of Iran’s foreign diplomacy which is controlled and dictated by the leader of the Iranian regime.

As usual, Iranian ruling clerics blame Israel for the escalation of Washington-Tehran rhetoric and like other officials; Mr. Khameneh'i vehemently attacked the Bush Administration for its "blank cheque" to Israel to commit "atrocities" against the "innocent Palestinian Muslims".

"One wonders who among the Palestinians asked Mr. Khameneh'i to be their spokesman, to decide for them", asked Mr Keshtgar speaking to the Persian service of Radio France Internationale, adding that if, as a result of the diplomacy decided by the leader, Iran is attacked, "Mr. Khameneh'i and his authoritarian regime must bear full responsibility", he said.

Other Iranians questioned on the issue expressed more or less the same view, but at the same time warned Mr. Bush against "amalgamation", and mistaking the regime with the people.

Iran has denied all charges and reiterated its full backing for Mr. Karzai, reminding that it had fully co-operated with the United Nations at the Bonn meeting that led to the nomination of the present government.

Nevertheless, both American Secretary of State Department Collin Powell and his British counterpart Mr. Jack Straw warned Iran against any meddling in Afghan interior affairs aimed at destabilising the pro-western government of the country, signalling a tilt of the diplomacies of the two allies towards the hard-line policy advocated by Mr. Bush’s National Security Council.

[Asked by the Persian and Poshtoon service of the BBC on Thursday about these accusations, Mr. Karzai said he had good relations with the Islamic Republic and hoped to visit Tehran in a near future on the invitation of Iranian government].

The fact is that Iranian clerical rulers consider the presence of a democratic, Turkish-style Islamic regime in Kabol enjoying close relationship with Washington as a threat for their theocratic system.

"A democratic Afghanistan respectful of human rights, freedom of the press, political parties, expression and particularly equal rights for women would make the present Iranian theocratic system looking like Taleban", one Tehran-based Iranian journalist told Iran Press Service on condition of anonymity.

"Iran would like to see an Islamic Republic in Afghanistan, but we respect the will of the Afghan people regarding their regime. After all, Turkey is a secular State with which we have friendly relations", Mr. Ali Ahani, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister for American and European Affairs said in Paris Friday during a press conference at the Centre d’Accueil de la Presse Etrangeres, or the Foreign Press Club.

Mr. Nafici says the Iranian leaders do not have a correct understanding of the working of American system.