Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said it would take 20 years to correct mistakes made by US President George W Bush's administration, the Fars news agency reported Wednesday.

"The US is currently going through its worst phase in history: They have an economic crisis, politically they have reached a dead end and even European nations hate the US thoughts and approaches," Ahmadinejad said.

"Wise people in the US political scene are aware that it would take 20 years for correcting the mistakes and constant failures by the Bush administration," Ahmadinejad added at a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem Tuesday night.

While using anti-US rhetoric at home, Ahmadinejad has several times voiced Iran's readiness to resume contact with its political arch-foe, the United States, after more than 28 years of diplomatic estrangement, most recently in an interview with the US television network NBC.

While referring to reports that the United States might attack Iranian nuclear sites over Tehran's defiance to suspend uranium enrichment, Ahmadinejad said that "any new adventurism by the US would accelerate its collapse." (dpa)