Iran's powerful Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Friday in Tehran hailed the Iraqi parliamentary election on Thursday as a victory of the Iraqi people.

"We share this victory with the Iraqis and congratulate them on it, for it was the opposite of what the United States has sought," Rafsanjani was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying.

Rafsanjani, who had served as the country's president from 1989- 1997, told Friday prayers that the situation in Iraq was not favorable for the foreign occupiers, stressing that "ever since the beginning (of the Iraq war) that the Americans would become trapped in a quagmire".

Meanwhile, Rafsanjani also rejected the United States' accusation that Iran was interfering in Iraq's internal affairs, reported the official IRNA news agency.

"The allegations against Iran are mockery and funny, and the United States, with all its 160,000 troops who are engaged in terrorist acts leading to insecurity in the country, is now accusing Iran of interfering in Iraq's affairs," IRNA quoted him as saying.

Iraq held the general election on Thursday, with about 15 millions of voters casting their ballots to elect their first four- year full term parliament after former president Saddam Hussein was toppled in the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Since the downfall of Saddam, Iran has been keeping a close eye on the Iraqi situation and calling for an early complete withdrawal of foreign troops from the war-torn country.

Source: Xinhua