Blame it on US for Iraq bombings

"We support the government of Iraq. We are very disturbed by the lack of security in Iraq, especially the daily killings of the Iraqi people," Khamenei said in a sermon at Tehran University.

"American machine-guns are criminal, but those elements who plant bombs are also criminals," he added.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that US forces had found Iranian weapons inside Iraq on more than one occasion over the past couple of months, accusing Tehran of seeking to replicate its own Islamic regime in Iraq by backing insurgents.

The previous week a US intelligence official told AFP last week that Washington believes at least one cache of newly manufactured bombs came from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

But Khamenei said the United States was behind the regular bombings, arguing that Washington needed a "pretext" to stay put in Iraq.

"For us, the prime suspect in these incidents is America, because terrorism in Iraq functions under the eyes of the US. Thousands of Americans forces are spread across Iraq and if they wanted to eradicate insecurity they could have," he said.

"There are some signs which point to the spy services of the US and Zionist regime (Israel). They do not want this (Iraqi) government to be successful, because insecurity is their pretext to stay," he added.

"Accusing Iran and Syria," he said, "cannot clear themselves."

Iran was also "firm in letting no one infiltrate" Iraq even though the two country share a 1,300-kilometre (810 mile) border, but explained that "even the Americans cannot stop the Mexicans cross their border".