Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed ardent support for the Iraqi government on Wednesday, hours after U.S. President George W. Bush accused Tehran of backing Shiite extremists in war-torn Iraq.

Ahmadinejad was quoted by a report posted on his official website, saying that "Undermining the popular government of Iraq is synonymous with betraying the Iraqi people and the Muslim Ummah (nation)."

The president made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani on Wednesday, the report said.

"Stability, security, tranquility, welfare and progress of the Iraqi nation will only be achieved through efforts of the people and the country's popular government," the Iranian president said.

He stressed that Iran is ready to render any type of cooperation to help achieve "progress and welfare of the friendly and brotherly country of Iraq."

Ahmadinejad also lashed out at Bush's new Iraqi strategy, calling his plan "doomed to failure."

On Tuesday, Bush unveiled his agenda for 2007 in his first State of the Union address before a Democratic-controlled Congress in six years, urging lawmakers to support his new strategy on Iraq.

The U.S. president also repeated Washington's long-standing accusation that Iran is encouraging the violence in Iraq by supplying money and weapons to Shiite radicals.

"Radical Shiite elements, some of whom receive support from Iran, formed death squads (in Iraq)," Bush said in the televised speech.

Bush unveiled his new Iraq strategy earlier this year, which included political, diplomatic and military measures designed to help quell the escalating violence in Iraq. A centerpiece of the new plan is to boost U.S. troops in Iraq by 21,500.

Source: Xinhua