Throw US, Britain off Security Council: Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN, Aug 1 (Reuters) The United States and Britain are responsible for Israel's killing of civilians in Lebanon and should not be trusted with seats on the U N Security Council, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today.

Israeli forces launched a massive offensive against Lebanon after Hizbollah kidnapped two of its soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Most of the victims of the conflict have been Lebanese civilians.

Iran regularly blames Britain, as a creator of Israel, and the United States, as the state that bankrolls and protects it, for deaths in conflicts in the West Asia.

''They are not competent to be members of the Security Council or to have the power of veto ... They are criminals and should be put on trial,'' Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the northeastern town of Bojnurd.

Iran has accused the U N Security Council of acting illegally by demanding that Iran end its nuclear work or face the threat of sanctions. The West says it believes Iran is planning to build atomic warheads, a charge Tehran denies.

Ahmadinejad accused Israeli forces of being part of a British and U S plan to recreate a colonial West Asia.

''Are they humans? They are worse than the beasts. They are bloodthirsty savages,'' he said. ''They have launched strikes from the ground, air and sea. Hospitals, schools, mosques and churches are not safe,'' he said of the Israeli attacks.

Although Iran armed and funded Hizbollah during the 1980s, Tehran now insists its support is purely charitable, moral and political.

Israel says Hizbollah is using Iranian weaponry against it, particularly the hundreds of rockets Hizbollah has fired at northern Israel in the past three weeks.

REUTERS SBA RN2319