Iranian cleric slams foreign media's "arrogance"

Conservative Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani in his Friday prayers address criticized Western media for deliberately misinterpreting this week's television appearance by President Mohammad Khatami.

"Now we can see how these propaganda loudspeakers take one sentence out of context and say that was what he meant," he said, in remarks broadcast by Iranian radio.

"Then, they make a mountain out of a molehill.

That is unfortunately the way world arrogance behaves," he said.

He said Muslims should be vigilant in the face of such propaganda.

"At a time when the world of Islam and particularly the Islamic Republic is faced with all such publicity, ploy and propaganda, all members of the Islamic community should be vigilant, awake and maintain their solidarity.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference should become more active," the ayatollah added.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.