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


President Ahmadinejad said while some 3,000 were killed on the September 11 incident, "for which we are all very saddened," hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions wounded and displaced up to now, as the conflicts continue to rage and expand.

While raising several questions about the source and nature of the 9/11 attacks, the president asked even if we grant credence to the US government's view that "a complex terrorist group was able to cross all layers of US intelligence and security" to wage the attacks, "is it rational 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?"

The Iranian president also blasted the Israeli regime for its siege of Palestinian lands and their repeated aggressions against the people of Gaza and Lebanon with blessings from their 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."

President Ahmadinejad also highlighted the Israeli attack against the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla and killing and injuring civilians onboard, calling it "a blatant defiance of all international norms."

The president emphasized that while the Tel Aviv regime "regularly threatens the countries in the region" and conducts "publicly announced assassination of Palestinian figures," it enjoys the "absolute support of some western countries." Whereas, he added, "Palestinian defender and those opposing this regime are pressured, labeled as terrorists and anti Semites."

The Iranian president then insisted that all solutions "are doomed to fail" if the rights of Palestinian people are not accounted for, calling for the return of the Palestinian refugees to their home land and the establishment of a Palestinian sovereignty and government based on a popular vote.

President Ahmadinejad referred to the recent burning of the holy Qur'an in the US as an "ugly and inhumane act" against the Divine Book of Islam's prophet that calls for "worshipping the one God, justice, compassion toward people, development and progress, reflection and thinking, defending the oppressed and resisting against the 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 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."

Dr. 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 Declaration on a fuel swap deal as "a hugely constructive step in confidence building efforts" and said that it was facilitated through the good will of Turkish, Brazilian and Iranian governments.

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

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

The president also slammed UN's "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, Dr. Ahmadinejad said, "The veto advantage grants impunity to aggression and occupation; how could, therefore, one expect competence while both the judge and the prosecutor are a party to the dispute?"

"Had Iran enjoyed veto privilege, would the Security Council and the IAEA Director General have taken the same position in the nuclear issue?"

The Iranian president then insisted that the veto privilege "be revoked" altogether and the General Assembly becomes 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 pldege adequate aid and support for the flood victims.