Ahmadinejad says US organized 9/11 attack, causing walk-outs in UNGA

The US and other Western delegations at the 65th UN General Assembly have walked out in protest at the speech of the Iranian president.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said some saw the 11 September attacks on the US as part of a US conspiracy to protect Israel.
The US denounced his remarks on the 2001 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, as "abhorrent and delusional."

The American delegation was joined in its walk-out by representatives from 32 other nations - including all the EU countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

But Mr Ahmadinejad appeared undaunted by the protest, continuing his attack on Zionism and Israel, according to BBC News.

Mr Ahmadinejad did not accuse the US directly of being part of a conspiracy behind the 11 September attacks. But he did suggest that one theory he claimed was popular was that the US government had orchestrated it to provide a pretext to reverse its declining grip on the Middle East.

At that, US diplomats got up and left the hall, followed by the British and some other Western delegations. In fact the hall was less than half full. Most senior Western politicians were deep in discussion at a separate meeting on the UN Security Council's role in peace and security.

That did not deter Iran's president. He said sanctions against Iran were unjust and ineffective, and he stood ready for an annual public dialogue with the US president to air their differences.

The Iranian president said he would host a conference on terrorism next year and that 2011 should be the year of nuclear disarmament.

Repeating Iran's denial that it was seeking the capacity to build nuclear weapons, Mr Ahmadinejad said some members of the UN Security Council had "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs."

He also said Tehran would not submit to what he called unnecessary pressure from the the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.