Iranians Join Nutroots, Condemn McCain Over Cigarette Joke

Proving conclusively that neither have a sense of humor and are on the same page politically, the Iranian mullahs today condemned John McCain for a joke he cracked earlier this week that had the American nutroots all in a lather.

Iran has condemned U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain for joking about killing Iranians with cigarettes and said it showed his "warmongering" foreign policy attitude, media said on Sunday.

McCain, who once sang in jest about bombing Iran, on Tuesday reacted to a report of rising U.S. cigarette exports to the Islamic Republic by saying it may be "a way of killing 'em."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: "McCain's crude remark on the indiscriminate killing of the Iranian nation not only testifies to his disturbed state of mind, but also to his warmongering approach to foreign policy."

In a statement quoted by the website of Iran's state Press TV satellite station, Hosseini added:

"We condemn such jokes and believe them to be inappropriate for a U.S. presidential candidate. It is most evident that jokes about genocide will not be tolerated by Iranians or Americans."

McCain, known for acerbic comments and for sometimes firing verbally from the hip, was responding to a report that U.S. exports to Iran rose tenfold during President George W. Bush's term in office despite hostility between the two countries.

A rise in cigarette sales was a big part of that, according to an Associated Press analysis.

"Maybe that's a way of killing 'em," McCain said to reporters during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. "I meant that as a joke, as a person who hasn't had a cigarette in 28 years, 29 years," he added, laughing.

Barack Obama, who still smokes despite claiming he doesn't, was unavailable for comment.