Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the Boston bombings but criticized Washington for its "contradictory" approach to terrorism.

Khamenei's comments followed a statement by Iran's foreign ministry that "strongly condemned" the blasts, calling them a "source of sorrow."

Calling the US selfish and hypocritical, he said, in comments reportedly published on his website leader.ir:

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a follower of the Islamic rationale, is against any blast and killing of innocent people whether in Boston, Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria. The approach of the US and others who advocate human rights is contradictory in regards to the killing of innocent people."

He said the US remained "silent on killing the innocent people of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria and then fill the world with a hue and cry following a couple of blasts in the US."

Tehran's Fars News Agency quoted him as saying that:

"... Despite the Americans' claim about their opposition to the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), 'the United States' drones massacre innocent people, children and women in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while the terrorists who are overtly or covertly supported by the US are killing people in Iraq and Syria.'"

The Christian Science Monitor wrote that Iran’s condemnation of the Boston explosions, which killed three and injured 176, "faintly echoed Iran’s more full-bodied condemnation of the 911 attacks in the US."

It pointed out that thousands of Iranians took to the streets to hold candlelight vigils after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US, despite the enmity between the two countries' political leaders since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran and the US are at odds on a broad range of issues, including Tehran's disputed nuclear program and its support for the Syrian regime.