TEHRAN -- Iran on Tuesday lambasted Washington's "hardline and unilateral stance" against Palestinians and dismissed U.S. President George W Bush's claims that Tehran was sending arms for Lebanese and Palestinian groups.

"Iran's backing for the Palestinian and Lebanese people is merely moral and against the occupation," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamidreza Assefi said, IRNA reported.

Bush on Monday accused Iran of shipping arms to Lebanon and Palestine for use by anti-Israeli resistance groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah which he dubbed as "terrorist groups seeking the destruction of Israel".

"Yesterday (Monday) statements of the American president on the Middle East crisis, is the repetition of the White House's hardline and unilateral stance against the defenseless Palestinian people," Assefi said.

"The public opinion of the world, especially Muslims, does not agree with the American views on the Middle East and one of the reasons for the escalation of crisis in Palestine is the adoption of such superficial and illogical stances," he added.

Washington has accused freedom-seeking movements in Lebanon and Palestine of terrorism and called on the world countries to prevent from assisting them.

"The Islamic world does not endorse American view of terror and terrorism and expects the American statesmen to define terrorism as it is and quit any interpretations which serve the Israeli regime and support it," Assefi said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry reiterated the Islamic Republic's denunciation of Washington's complicity in the Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

"Occupation is an international crime and the Zionist regime is still persisting on its occupation of the Palestinian territories with the American support," he said.

Assefi said that "the only solution to the Palestine crisis is to restore all rights of the Palestinian people".