Ahmadinejad slams US 9/11 plot at UN

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the US took advantage of the ‘suspicious’ September 11 attacks to justify its occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, President Ahmadinejad drew attention to the growing number of civilian and military deaths caused by the US-led “war on terror” in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“It was said that some three thousands people were killed on September 11 for which we are all very saddened. Yet, up until now, in Afghanistan and Iraq hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions wounded and displaced and the conflict is still going on and expanding,” the Iranian president said.

He went on to raise doubts about the credibility of the US government’s account of the source and nature of the 9/11 attacks indicating that “a very powerful and complex terrorist group, able to successfully cross all layers of the American intelligence and security, carried out the attack.”

He said despite the cited claim many throughout the world believe that “some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.”

The Iranian president said even in the case of the credibility of the US government’s account, it was not a rational move “to launch a classic war through widespread deployment of troops that led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people to counter a terrorist group.”

President Ahmadinejad moved on to the subject of the occupation of the Palestinian territories, blasting Israel for its siege and repeated aggressions against the people of Gaza and Lebanon carried out with the support of Tel Aviv’s Western backers.

“The oppressed people of Palestine have lived under the rule of an occupying regime for 60 years, been deprived of freedom, security and the right to self-determination, while the occupiers are given recognition,” he said.

“On a daily basis,” he added, “the houses are being destroyed over the heads of innocent women and children. People are deprived of water, food and medicine in their own homeland. The Zionists have imposed five all-out wars on the neighboring countries and on the Palestinian people.”

In his UN address, President Ahmadinejad also mentioned the Israeli attack against the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla which led to the death of civilian activists onboard, calling it “a blatant defiance of all international norms.”

The Iranian president explained that while Tel Aviv “regularly threatens the countries in the region” and conducts “publicly announced assassination of Palestinian figures,” it enjoys the “absolute support of some western countries.”

He added that all such moves are carried out by Israel as “Palestinian defenders and those opposing this regime are pressured, labeled as terrorists and anti-Semites.”

The Iranian president went on to reiterate that all solutions “are doomed to fail” if the rights of Palestinian people are not reserved, and called for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and the establishment of a Palestinian government based on popular vote.

President Ahmadinejad described the recent burning of the holy Qur’an in the US as an “ugly and inhumane act” against the prophet of Islam’s divine book that calls for “worshipping the one God, justice, compassion toward people, development and progress, reflection and thinking, defending the oppressed and resisting against oppressors.”

He then stressed that the Qur’an was burned “to burn all these truths and good judgments.” However, he added, the “truth could not be burned.”

On the Iranian nuclear issue, President Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran’s readiness to resume talks based on the Tehran nuclear declaration, censuring the unjust imposition of anti-Iran sanctions by the UN Security Council.

Noting that the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) allows member states to use nuclear energy without limits while prohibiting the development and stockpiling of nuclear weapons, the president underlined that some permanent members of the UN Security Council have nonetheless “equated nuclear energy with the nuclear bomb, and have distanced this energy from the reach of most nations by establishing monopolies and pressuring the IAEA.”

Consequently, he said, “Not only the nuclear disarmament has not been realized, but also nuclear bombs have been proliferated in some regions, including by the occupying and intimidating Zionist regime.”

Ahmadinejad went on to make the proposition that the year 2011 be proclaimed the year of nuclear disarmament and “Nuclear Energy for all, Nuclear Weapons for None.”

On Iran’s nuclear issue the Iranian president referred to the Tehran fuel swap declaration as a “hugely constructive step in confidence building efforts” and said that it was facilitated through the good will of the Turkish, Brazilian and Iranian governments.

He reiterated that although the declaration received “inappropriate reaction” by some governments and was followed by an “unlawful resolution,” it still remains valid.

“We have observed the regulations of the IAEA more than our commitments,” he stated. “Yet, we have never submitted to illegally imposed pressures nor will we ever do so.”

The president also slammed the UN “ineptitude” and “unjust structure,” stressing that major power has been “monopolized” in the Security Council (UNSC) due to the veto privilege while the main pillar of the organization, the General Assembly, “is marginalized.”

Noting that in the past decades at least one of the permanent members of the UNSC has been a party to conflicts, Ahmadinejad said, “The veto advantage grants impunity to aggression and occupation; therefore, how could one expect competence while both the judge and the prosecutor are a party to the dispute?”

“Had Iran enjoyed veto privileges, would the Security Council and the IAEA director general have taken the same position in the nuclear issue?”

The Iranian president then proposed the veto privilege “be revoked” altogether and for the General Assembly to become the “highest body” in the United Nations.

At the beginning of his remarks, President Ahmadinejad expressed great sympathy with the people and government of flood-stricken Pakistan and urged the world to pledge adequate aid and support for the flood victims.