Fist still fully clenched.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his new year’s message on Monday to slam the military intervention in Libya, back regional revolts, and accuse US President Barack Obama of lying.

“The US and Western (allies) claim they want to defend the people by carrying out military operations or by entering Libya. . . You did not come to defend the people, you’ve come after Libyan oil,” Khamenei said in a live broadcast from the holy city of Mashhad.

“Iran utterly condemns the behaviour of the Libyan government against its people, the killings and pressure on people, and the bombing of its cities . . . but it (also) condemns the military action in Libya,” he said.

Khamenei said that Islamic republic supports those who have rebelled against Kadhafi, but said the West was seeking a foothold in the north African nation to monitor the uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia.

He also accused Obama of “lying.”

“The US president has sent a message that he supports (the Iranian people), he claims to be against dictatorship and a supporter of (regional) nations. But he is lying,” he said, pointing out that Obama had supported ousted Egyptian and Tunisian leaders Hosni Mubarak and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.