Ahmadinejad compares Obama to Bush

TEHERAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Barack Obama yesterday of behaving like his predecessor towards Iran and said there was not much point in talking to Washington unless the US president apologized.

Obama said on Tuesday he was "appalled and outraged" by a post-election crackdown and Washington withdrew invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend US Independence Day celebrations on July 4 - stalling efforts to improve ties with Teheran.

"Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously (former US President George W.) Bush used to say," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.