Iran's president is offering season's greetings to Christians in a British TV address and suggests that were Jesus alive, he would oppose "bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to deliver a Christmas Day broadcast on Britain's Channel 4. (Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Christmas Day broadcast will be delivered on Britain's Channel 4 — occupying a slot that provides an often controversial counterpoint to the Queen's traditional annual message, the station said Wednesday.

According to a transcript released in advance, Ahmadinejad says most of the world's problems stem from leaders who have turned against religion.

The Muslim president doesn't refer to rival countries or leaders by name, nor does he mention Israel — but his remarks were an apparent reference to Israel and the United States and its allies.

"If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly he would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over," he says.

The transcript was an English-language translation of Ahmadinejad's speech, delivered in Farsi. The broadcast will air with subtitles.

The Israeli ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, condemned Ahmadinejad's speech as a "bogus message of goodwill."

"That [Channel 4] should give an unchallenged platform to the president of a regime which denies the Holocaust, advocates the destruction of the sovereign state of Israel, funds and encourages terrorism, executes children and hangs gay people is a disgrace," he said.

"Outrage doesn't begin to explain it."

British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell echoed the comments, saying the broadcaster was "aiding and abetting a tyrant."

"This is the equivalent of giving [Zimbabwean President] Robert Mugabe a prime-time television slot to promote his propaganda," he said.

Picked for 'influential views'

Previous guests on Channel 4's Christmas slot have included Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sharon Osborne and the animated TV character Marge Simpson of The Simpsons.

Last year's message was delivered by Sgt. Maj. Andrew Stockton, a British soldier badly wounded in Afghanistan.

Dorothy Byrne, Channel 4's head of news and current affairs, said Ahmadinejad was picked because Iran's relations with the West would likely remain a big global issue in 2009.

"As the leader of one of the most powerful states in the Middle East, President Ahmadinejad's views are enormously influential," Byrne said.

"As we approach a critical time in international relations, we are offering our viewers an insight into an alternative world view."

The channel broadcast an interview with Ahmadinejad in September 2007, when he insisted Iran wasn't seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

The U.S., Britain and others are particularly critical of Iran's uranium enrichment efforts which, if taken far enough, could be used to develop nuclear bombs.

Iran contends its nuclear program is aimed solely at power generation and that its right to uranium enrichment is protected under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Ties with Britain, in particular, were strained in 2007 when Iran held 15 British sailors and marines prisoner for 13 days after a confrontation in the Persian Gulf.