Cuban leader Fidel Castro has appeared in his first television interview in more than three months.
The 81-year-old warned that the Bush administration could go to war with Iran and bemoaned the high cost of the war in Iraq, saying it could lead to economic catastrophe.
But he played down concerns over his health, saying: "Here I am."
Castro looked alert and healthy during an hour-long interview taped and aired on Cuban television.
Mocking rumours of his death that have circulated in Miami and elsewhere in the United States, he said "they say 'I was dying' and 'if I die' and 'I will die the day after tomorrow' or something.
"Nobody knows the day they are going to die," said Castro, who was forced to cede power to his younger brother Raul in July 2006 following emergency intestinal surgery. He has not appeared in public since.
Early on in the interview, Castro often trailed off mid-sentence, and needed some prompting by the interviewer.
He had bags under his eyes, sunken cheeks and his thin grey beard looked as wispy as ever. But he appeared to get stronger and more comfortable as time passed.
The Cuban leader wore a red, blue and white jumpsuit with "F. Castro" in small block letters.
"They criticize me" for wearing the tracksuit, Castro joked. But he said he was "not looking for anything elegant".
Arnaldo Fuster, who watched the Castro interview with his wife and children in his old Havana home, said he thought the Cuban leader looked better.
"He's whole. He's better, I think, than ever," Fuster said. "He's old, but he's whole. His memory is normal, he looks normal."
Cuban officials broke into regularly scheduled programming on state television only minutes before the video was broadcast to announce that a "conversation" with Castro would be shown.
Castro's condition and exact ailment are state secrets, though he wrote in one of his many essays that he had undergone multiple surgeries, at least one of which went poorly.
He is recovering in an undisclosed location.
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