Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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 Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:09 pm Post subject: Ahmadinejad at the United Nations... |
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UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The nuclear issue in Iran is "now closed," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an address Tuesday loaded with broadsides against "selfish and incompetent" powers that have "obedience to Satan..."
"I officially announce that in our opinion, the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed...
One day earlier, the firebrand Iranian leader spoke at Columbia University and challenged the audience to look into "who was truly involved" in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks...
The Iranian leader did make one specific reference to the United States, saying "the rights and dignity of the American people are also being sacrificed for the selfish desires of those holding power."
U.S. diplomats, however, were not on hand to listen to Ahmadinejad's analysis. The chairs where the American delegation sits were unoccupied, except for one woman taking notes. |
CNN Reports
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...When Ahmadinejad was ushered to the podium, the U.S. delegation walked out, leaving only a low-ranking note-taker to listen to his speech, which indirectly accused the United States and Israel of major human rights violations. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said the U.S. wanted "to send him a powerful message."
The Iranian president spoke shortly before German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the diplomats of "disastrous consequences" for Israel and the world if Iran acquires a nuclear bomb. "The world does not have to prove to Iran that Iran is building a nuclear bomb. Iran has to convince the world that it is not striving towards such a bomb."
Hours earlier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the assembly that allowing Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons would be an unacceptable risk. "There will not be peace in the world if the international community falters in the face of the proliferation of nuclear arms," Sarkozy said. The Iranian crisis "will only be resolved if firmness and dialogue go hand-in-hand..."
Ahmadinejad, asked whether Iran recognized Israel as a state or believed it should be destroyed, said: "We believe the Zionist regime is a usurpitive, illegal, occupational entity regime and the solution we have is that the Palestinian nation have self-determination, a free referendum."
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that Ahmadinejad should not have been invited to address the General Assembly.
"Ahmadinejad is expanding a fanatic doctrine of genocide. He is developing nuclear weapons to achieve it," he said...
Iran was not without allies. Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega angrily chastised the U.S. for seeking to stop other countries from enriching uranium, which is allowed under the Nonproliferation Treaty.
Ortega said the United States, as "the only country in the world to have dropped nuclear bombs on innocent people," had no right to question the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology for "peaceful purposes." |
NPR Reports |
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