India disappointed by Iran's

reaction to Mumbai attacks

India on Friday conveyed to Iran that it was deeply disappointed by the way the country had reacted to the Mumbai terror attacks.

Senior government officials admitted on condition of anonymity that visiting Iranian deputy foreign minister Mohammed Mehdi Akhoundzadeh had been given an earful by authorities for the widespread negative comments in the Iranian media about India.

Leading news agencies in Iran have been largely sympathetic towards Pakistan and insinuated that India has been acting under the influence of the US.

President Mahmoud Ahahdinejad too had said after the Mumbai incident that it was perpetrated by people from outside the region. However, this did not prevent Akhounzadeh from asking India not to let "sporadic terrorist incidents'' come in the way of the $7.4 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline. Akhoundzadeh, who held talks with senior Indian officials on Friday, also did not acknowledge that the terrorists who perpetrated the Mumbai attacks were from Pakistan. He described Pakistan as a victim of terrorism.

He said the history has shown that some forces have used "so-called" Islam to pursue their agenda and warned that "some countries are going to repeat the same mistake". He, however, did not elaborate. Contending that both India and Pakistan have been victims of terrorism, he cited the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi, former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in this context.