Obama's Nobel premature: Iran

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama was hasty and premature, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama was hasty and premature, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.

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The Nobel Committee announced the award for Obama on Friday for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".

Mottaki said that it might have been better to wait until the US troops pulled out of Afghanistan and the Palestinian peoples' rights were respected.

"This decision was clearly made in haste. However, we will support and welcome the move if it helps promote peace and harmony in war-weary countries," Iran's Press TV quoted Mottaki as saying.

Obama had earlier said: "I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership."