Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq   

    TEHRAN, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday condemned the bombing of a most revered Shiite shrine in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra and urged the U.S.-led "occupiers" to withdraw from the violence-torn country.

    "Unfortunately, under the aegis of the occupiers, the terrorists have once again bombed the holy shrine in Samarra and desecrated the sacred site," Ahmadinejad was quoted by the state-run Press TV website as saying.

    He made the remarks in a speech to residents of the northern Iranian city of Semnan, just hours after insurgents blew up two minarets of the Shiite shrine in Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, on Wednesday morning.

    The Iranian president also warned the "occupiers" not to "close their exit door to withdraw from Iraq by such terrorist acts," the Press TV website reported.

    "If it is closed, Iraq will turn into a graveyard for the occupiers," Ahmadinejad said.

    Late last month, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi held an ice-breaking talks in Baghdad over Iraq's security.

    Such a meeting was the first for the United States and Iran since diplomatic relations of the two countries have been severed for more than a quarter century.

    Crocker urged Iran to stop supporting Iraq's militia by arming and training Shiite militia in Iraq and providing materials of sophisticated armored-piercing bombs.

    Iran denied the claims and accused the U.S.-led coalition forces deployed in Iraq of being the root cause for the country's persistent insecurity and violence.