Iran president lauds Hizbollah, blasts US ‘crimes’

TEHRAN: Iran's president praised on Tuesday Hizbollah's resistance to Israel during a month-long conflict in Lebanon and said the United States and Britain should pay compensation for war damage.   

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking after US President George Bush told Iran on Monday, when a fragile truce went into effect in Lebanon, to stop supporting armed groups trying to derail democracies in Iraq and Lebanon.   

Iranian state media revelled on Tuesday in what officials called a "glorious victory" by the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hizbollah.   

"This war showed that any nation that relies on God and fights for its rights will surely be victorious," Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the northwestern city of Ardebil.   

"Britain and America are the main associates of the Zionist regime (Israel) in its offensive to Lebanon and should compensate Lebanon for the damage," he said in the speech, broadcast live on state television.   

"Those governments should answer for their crimes in Lebanon."   

State TV broadcast pictures from several Iranian cities showing groups of a few dozen people chanting and waving the Lebanese group Hizbollah's flag to celebrate.   

"Long live Hizbollah" and "God is greatest" shouted the crowds. Women were pictured handing out sweets to passers-by, while cars blew their horns.