Berlin ? Iran, denounced by President Bush as part of an “axis of evil,” urged U.S. allies Wednesday to lobby the American administration against unilateral military action in the war on terrorism.

No world power should simply “declare someone as a terrorist and use its military muscle against them,” Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said before talks with his German counterpart, Joschka Fischer.

“The friends of the United States have to advise them that, instead of unilateralism, they should stick to multilateralism,” Kharrazi told reporters. He spoke during a two-day visit to Berlin to discuss Afghanistan and the Middle East with German officials.

Fischer made no comment. Germany has strongly backed the United States in the war in Afghanistan, but Fischer is among a number of European officials who have cautioned the Bush administration against expecting automatic support for military action elsewhere.

In his State of the Union address last month, Bush labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea part of an “axis of evil” that supports terrorism and seeks to develop weapons of mass destruction, warning them to stop or face consequences.

Speculation about the next major step in the U.S. campaign has focused on Iraq, but Iran was also angered.

On Tuesday, Iran’s legislature approved a budget bill containing unspecified spending to counter U.S. policy, state-run Tehran radio said.

Some U.S. allies criticized Bush for denouncing Iran, saying he alienated politicians and citizens who are pressing the ruling hard-line clergy to expand democracy.

Iran’s ties with Germany and other European countries are friendlier than with the United States.