Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Western countries' claims of democracy are "sheer lies", citing a recent anti-racism conference, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

"The recent anti-racism conference in Geneva ...proved that the West's claims of freedom of expression and democracy were sheer lies," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

"All their claims about freedom of expression are nothing ... they had made several plans to prevent speeches at the Geneva conference," he added.

"Despite their cultural, economic and social dominance over the world, they are on the verge of collapse," he said.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks during his visit to Shiraz, capital of Iran's southern province of Fars.

On Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi criticized Western states for their intolerance at the Geneva conference.

Western states were intolerant when hearing the similarities between racism and "Zionism" in the conference, Qashqavi said.

Ahmadinejad's speech at Durban Review Conference on racism in Geneva on April 20 caused a turmoil and sparked walkout by dozens of European delegates.

Addressing the UN conference, Ahmadinejad criticized the creation of a "totally racist government in occupied Palestine" in 1948, calling it "the most cruel and racist regime".

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2009)