World Bulletin / Mehmet Ali KAÇMAZ

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, announced the offer after a meeting with Khaled Mashaal, the political leader of the Hamas, in Tehran, the radio said. Larijani said the decision was taken after the United States said it would not provide aid to an authority governed by Hamas until the group renouced violence, recognized Israel and agreed to abide by existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.

The United States has sought to build an international front against Hamas since it won the Palestinian parliamentary elections. Most governments in the West have agreed to insist that Hamas renounce violence. Yesterday, Egypt rejected an appeal by the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, for Arab states to deny direct aid to Hamas when it forms a government.

Earlier on Wednesday, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an anti-Semite, a racist, and a hater of Israel, Army Radio reported. Speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Olmert was quoted as saying: "Ahmadinejad is an anti-Semite, a racist, and an Israel-hater, but there's no point in holding a competition of inflammatory statements with him."