'Major powers' should leave Iraq: Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday dismissed US accusations that his country is training extremists and demanded that the Americans withdraw from Iraq.

Speaking in a nearly hour-long news conference at the end of his unprecedented visit to Iraq, Ahmadinejad said the US allegations - that Iran is training Shi'ite militants who target American troops and Muslim rivals - don't matter to the Iranians.

"Of course American officials make such remarks and such statements, and we do not care ... because they make statements on the basis of erroneous information," said the hard-line Iranian leader, who smiled through much of the session. "We cannot count on what they say."