Tuesday, July 25 2006 12:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tehran: Iran's top national security official has accused the US of trying to change the map of the Middle East for its own interests. "The issue is no longer fighting terrorism but what the US really aims is to change regional borders, start a war between Shia and Sunni Muslims, and get domination over the region's oil resources," National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani was quoted by ISNA news agency as saying Monday. Larijani further said Israel was using the abduction of several of its soldiers by Hezbollah militants as just a pretext to start a war whose aim was purely political. "The West wanted to eliminate the thought of Jihad (holy war) among Muslim states but they could not predict the fierce resistance by the (Lebanese) Hezbollah (group)," said Larijani. Iran has voiced full support for the Hezbollah in the ongoing fighting in Lebanon but repeatedly stressed that it did not have a physical presence in the conflict.