Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday again blamed the United States for the global market crisis.

"This is not a global crisis but your (US) crisis," Ahmadinejad said in Khorramabad, western Iran.

"After the political failures (in Iraq and Afghanistan), the wrong US policies also affected their own economy," the president said in a speech carried live by the news network Khabar.

Ahmadinejad said US and Western desire for hegemony had led to the current market crisis.

"You (US) are the roots for all the corruption in the world and there is no way out of this dilemma than to return to the path of spirituality, ethics and justice," he said.

He warned developing nations that the US would probably try to compensate the economic loss with renewed imperialistic policies, and vowed that at least Iran would try to stop it "from exploiting other countries."

Tehran is awaiting the outcome of next week's US presidential elections and hopes that a victory by Democrat candidate Barack Obama could ease almost three decades of hostility between the two countries.

Ahmadinejad also criticized the World Bank for rejecting Third World countries' loan requests, while easily handing billions of dollars to developed Western nations.

Iran's market has not been directly affected by the global crisis, mainly due to international sanctions against it. The Islamic state has few direct economic links with the outside world except income generated from oil. (dpa)