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Khartoum: Iran's president blamed the United States and Israel for the world's problems yesterday in a lecture to Sudanese officials and intellectuals during his visit to Sudan.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments came just after Iranian media and Saudi media reported that he was slated to visit Saudi Arabia - a staunch ally of the United States.
Ahmadinejad's trip will follow weeks of talks between the kingdom and its longtime rival Iran in a bid to defuse several conflicts in the region, including those in Lebanon and Iraq - two crises points that have raised Saudi fears of a sectarian explosion.
In his lecture titled 'Iran and the world' in Sudan, Ahmadinejad urged Muslims to rally behind Iran and accused detractors of Iran's nuclear programme of trying to prevent a developing country from making scientific advances.
"There is no place in the world that suffers from divisions and wars unless America or the Zionists' fingerprints are seen there," he told his audience in Farsi translated into Arabic.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday. Sudanese state Suna news agency said the visit would promote "cooperation in defence relations, the exchange of expertise and scientific and technological capabilities".
Al Watan, a Saudi newspaper, quoted unidentified Iranian officials as saying the visit will take place "next week". Ahmadinejad's Saudi trip would come just weeks before the kingdom hosts the Arab League summit from March 28-29.
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