Havana - Fidel Castro has criticised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes.

The former Cuban leader also warned that an escalating conflict between Iran and the West could lead to nuclear war.

Mr Castro, speaking to a US journalist, also questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Asked if he stood by his recommendation for the Soviets to bomb America, he said "it wasn't worth it at all".

Mr Castro was speaking to Jeffrey Goldberg, a journalist with The Atlantic magazine based in Washington, DC, whom he personally invited to Cuba.

Mr Castro said that Iran could further the cause of peace by "acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence", Mr Goldberg wrote.