TEHRAN, July 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Monday, July 15, condemned the “flagrant support” of U.S. President George W. Bush for the Islamic republic’s reformers, state radio reported.

“This open interference and this flagrant support reflects a particular political tendency towards Iran... and reveals one more time that the Americans are mistaken in their calculations” of the situation in Iran, Rafsanjani was quoted as saying during a meeting with military commanders.

The former head of state, who is seen as an ally of Iran’s dominant conservatives, dismissed as “naïve” talk of a rapprochement with the United States, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

“In the current state of things, one should act with foresight and wisdom, and in order to face the enemy, one should above all avoid any divergence and discord,” said Rafsanjani, who now heads the powerful Expediency Council, the nation’s top arbitration body.

The rejection of Bush’s appeal for change by reformers as well as conservatives constituted a “failure” for the U.S. leadership, he added.

Rafsanjani’s comments come a day after moderate President Mohammad Khatami dismissed Bush’s offer of U.S. support for democratic changes in the Islamic republic.

“I want to assure you there are no differences in Iran on the idea of defending the territorial integrity of the country and safeguarding its independence,” Khatami said, urging U.S. leaders to “apologize to the people and government (of Iran).”

He called for U.S. leaders “to apologize to the people and government (of Iran) and thus breach the wall of mistrust which separates the two countries.”

Khatami said Iran was “determined to follow the path towards progress, freedom and independence without any consideration for threats.”

In Friday’s speech, Bush had urged Tehran to abandon “uncompromising, destructive policies,” promising that a reforming, modernizing Iran would have “no better friend” than the United States.

The U.S. president, who earlier this year linked Iran, North Korea and Iraq in an “axis of evil”, said the “vast majority” of Iranians had “voted for political and economic reform” in recent presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

“Yet their voices are not being listened to by the unselected people who are the real rulers of Iran,” he charged.

Tehran and Washington severed ties after the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Attempts at rapprochement have been dogged by fierce resentment in Iran over U.S. support for Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, state radio on Saturday, July 13, denounced Bush’s "open interference” in the Islamic republic’s internal affairs after the U.S. leader urged Tehran to abandon its “destructive policies.”

“The Americans should accept the consequences of their interference because the revolutionary people of Iran for the past 23 years have been showing that they do not retreat in the face of enemies and plots,” it said.

Head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohsen Mirdamadi said Sunday that the Iranian reformists can do without the help of the U.S. administration in their campaign, Iranian News Agencies (IRNA) reported.

“We will appreciate it if President Bush avoids creating obstacles for Iran’s reform movement,” he said.

Responding to the latest statement by Bush on Iran’s reform, he said the reforms advocated by U.S. officials differs fundamentally from those envisaged by Iranian reformists.

“In our opinion, reforms means return to the main motto of the Islamic Revolution which is Independence, Freedom and Islamic Republic and we will revive this fundamental motto which many have forgotten," Mirdamadi declared.

Until the various dimensions of the forgotten motto are not restored, reforms will bear no fruit, he said, adding, “The importance of ‘freedom’ and ‘republic’ in the motto is more important than ‘independence’ and by no means we should sacrifice one to achieve the other.”

“‘Freedom’ and ‘Independence’ are components of one whole and cannot be separated, he said.

“I think the U.S. administration which has described Iran as being a part of an ‘axis of evil’ has grossly insulted the Iranian nation and should avoid such abuses, interference and obstructions. There is no need to help reform movement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he underlined.