However, President Mohammad Khatami, a junior cleric, expressed his desire to see the Shi’a controlling the future Iraqi government.

"We favour a government in Iraq formed on the basis of one Iraqi one vote, regardless of the ethnic or religions", Mr. Khatami told the visiting French Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin.

Though the Tehran-based Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, one of the major Iraqi Shi’a groups, has pledged to a secular regime for Iraq, sharing powers with the Sunnis and the Kurds on a federal system basis, but it could well call for a referendum to form an Islamic State similar to that of neighbouring Iran by organising a national referendum.

Kharrazi stressed of the participation of all Iraqis, irrespective of cast and colour, in establishing a broad-based government in that country, saying, although most of the Iraqi people are Shi’a, for us, Shi’as, Sunnis, Kurds and Arabs are the same and all of them must play their role in creating a democratic and broad-based government in Iraq".

"We welcome and support the formation of a democratic and broad-based government in Iraq and believe that any effort to set up a healthy transitional or permanent government must be made under the aegis of the United Nations," Kharrazi added during a joint press conference with his French counterpart, who arrived in Tehran early Thursday for a one-day visit, coming from Ankara and Amman.

"Iranian clerical leaders, using their influence among Iraq's Shi'ite community, had encouraged Iraqis to put aside violence and think about unity and also move toward forming a democratic and free government. This is not interference", Kharrazi said, adding: any interim or permanent Iraqi government should remain under U.N. supervision.

Earlier on Wednesday, White House official spokesman Ari Fleischer had accused Iran to have send infiltrators from the Badr Brigade and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards inside Iraq to stir anti-American sentiments among Iraq Shi’as.

"It is very interesting that Americans have occupied Iraq and are now accusing its neighbour of interfering in that country", Kharrazi said during the joint news conference.

Asked to comment on US press reports that agents of the Badr Brigade, the military wing of an Iraqi exile group based in Iran, were operating to stir up anti-American sentiments, Kharrazi said, "This accusation is baseless".

"Iranians have no role in Iraq and it is up to the Iraqi people to decide on their fate and future but America is seeking to prevent the Iraqi nation from restoring their rights", Kharrazi countercharged.

Asked about Tehran's feeling about US Marines' patrols along the Iraqi border with Iran, he said, "We are obliged to defend our borders and the red line is our borders."

The Iranian foreign minister also criticized US and Britain, which recently toppled Saddam Hoseyn from power for "taking up a monopolist approach towards Iraq issues".

Elsewhere, Mr. Kharrazi expressed his concerns over alleged cease-fire accords reached between the American forces and the outlawed Mojahedeen Khalq Organisation, allowing the group, dedicated to overthrow the Iranian regime by armed struggle, to keep its military equipment received from the now toppled Iraqi dictator.

"The Iraqi people, by this convergence, proved that they can take their fate and the future of their country into their own hands," he said.

Iranian leaders, including Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi, hailed France’s "heroic" stance in face of the United States, but Mr. De Villepin emphasised that despite its diplomatic row with Washington over Iraq, France remains "a close ally of America".