Here’s the latest blatantly false headline from the Associated Press, as they claim that Iran has “endorsed” George W. Bush: Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran.

Notice, however, that the actual quotes from Iranian official Hasan Rowhani do not contain an endorsement at all, just a statement that they don’t want Democrats to take over:

TEHRAN, Iran - The head of Iran’s security council said Tuesday that the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran’s best interests, despite the administration’s axis of evil label, accusations that Iran harbors al-Qaida terrorists and threats of sanctions over the country’s nuclear ambitions.

Historically, Democrats have harmed Iran more than Republicans, said Hasan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security decision-making body.

“We haven’t seen anything good from Democrats,” Rowhani told state-run television in remarks that, for the first time in recent decades, saw Iran openly supporting one U.S. presidential candidate over another.

Though Iran generally does not publicly wade into U.S. presidential politics, it has a history of preferring Republicans over Democrats, who tend to press human rights issues.

“We do not desire to see Democrats take over,” Rowhani said when asked if Iran was supporting Democratic Sen. John Kerry against Bush.

But as this AFP release at Turkish News shows, the Associated Press deliberately omitted a key portion of Hasan Rowhani’s statements that make it clear Iran does not endorse Bush at all: Kerry or Bush, makes no difference to us: Iran.

TEHRAN, Oct 19 (AFP) - It makes no real difference to Iran whether US President George W. Bush or Democrat contender John Kerry wins the presidential elections, a senior Iranian official said Tuesday.

“It makes no difference for us which of the two parties wins the elections,” Iran’s top national security official Hassan Rowhani said in an interview on state television.

“We have not seen any good coming from the Democrats, so we won’t be happy if the Democrats win,” he said.

INDC Journal has more on this: The Associated Press Spins for Kerry and the Mullahs.