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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has condemned as a "crime" attacks against France's first lady Carla Bruni by a leading hardline newspaper which called her a "prostitute".

In an interview published on Sunday in the government newspaper Iran, Ahmadinejad said the attacks by the daily Kayhan, whose chief editor is appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were also against Islam.

"Certain things happen in our media which I do not believe in at all. For example, can a publication attribute a trait to the wife of a European president?" he was quoted as saying in a clear reference to Bruni.