TEHRAN -- Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here Saturday called the recent remarks of U.S. officials that Iraqis are under the influence of outsiders to establish an Islamic state as "a big insult" to the Iraqis.

Iran's Foreign Ministry in a statement quoted Kharrazi as saying that the U.S. has taken the initiative by using hollow pretexts to claim that the Iraqis are under the influence of foreign powers so to deprive them of very basic rights to self-determination and democracy.

He stressed that no Iranian official has made any remarks to advocate the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq, and that Tehran fully understands the realities of Iraq.

"The Islamic Republic is aware of the realities in Iraq, but the U.S. officials are accusing the Iraqis that they are under the influence of outsiders so that they may install their own desired government in the country," Kharrazi said.

The foreign minister said that the U.S. leaders might not like the slogans that the Iraqis are chanting against them and may put the blame on outsiders for provoking those slogans, stressing however that the Iraqis have a right to express themselves.

The U.S., Kharrazi said, should not ask for hush money from the Iraqis for toppling Saddam Hussein.

"The White House must know that toppling a regime without the public support is completely different from administrating a country," he said.

The U.S. leaders would better treat the realities as they are instead of resorting to trumping up accusations and adopting exclusionary approaches, he said.

Kharrazi also called the massive participation of Iraqi Shiites in Arba'een rituals as the reality of today's Iraq, adding that the remarks of U.S. officials to express surprise at the event depicted miscalculations about the situation in Iraq as well as their resolve to decide the fate of the Iraqis.

He said the huge public turnouts to mark the holy occasion manifested the maturity of the Shiites to join other ethnic and religious groups to establish a democratic Iraq with a broad-based and representative government.

Kharrazi also said the world powers should not be worried about the realities of Iraq, and highlighted the need for welcoming the realities instead of preventing the right of the Iraqis to self-determination.

The Islamic Republic also welcomes such process, the Iranian foreign minister pledged.