Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has railed against "Zionist murderers" in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Iranian leader also vowed to resist American bullying and defend Iran's right to nuclear power. After a long discourse on God, justice and morality, Ahmadinejad said a small number of "deceitful" Zionists were manipulating Americans and Europeans.
The Iranian leader said there was growing resistance in the world to the aggression of "bullying powers," a phrase he used repeatedly to refer to the United States and its allies. "The Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse, and there is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters," he said, referring to Israel. "American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders," Ahmadinejad said. He dwelled on what he described as Zionist control over international "financial and monetary centers".
"It is deeply disastrous to witness that some presidential nominees have to visit these people, take part in their gatherings and swear their allegiance and commitment to their interests in order to win financial or media support," Ahmadinejad added.
The comments were swiftly denounced as anti-Semitic by Jewish leaders and the US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, among others. Israeli president Shimon Peres said: "This is the first time in the history of the United Nations that the head of a state is appearing openly and publicly with the ugly and dark accusations of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'." He added: "I think this man should remain in isolated experience in a world that is against discrimination, against anti-Semitism, against terror. We should see him as he is and not as he strives to paint himself."
Ahmadinejad said Iran's nuclear program was entirely peaceful and his country was cooperating fully with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA had said earlier this month that Iran was not cooperating enough with its inspectors. "A few bullying powers have sought to put hurdles in the way of the peaceful nuclear activities of the Iranian nation by exerting political and economic pressures against Iran, and also through threatening and pressuring the IAEA," Ahmadinejad told the UN delegates. At a news conference, he claimed the IAEA was under pressure from Washington, and that the US had made allegations against Iran that were "so superficial and funny" that it was clear they were forged. "The forgery was so poorly done that any elementary school kid would be able to figure it out."
In his farewell address to the UN General Assembly, US president George W. Bush urged the world body to get tough on Iran's violations of the "noble pledge" enshrined in the UN Charter. The remarks prompted a thumbs down from Ahmadinejad, who sat in the audience and spent much of the Bush address smiling and waving to other delegates.
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