NEW YORK, 21 September 2006 — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced the United States and Britain late Tuesday as “hegemonic powers” undermining the UN Security Council’s credibility and effectiveness. The much-anticipated address by the Iranian leader to the United Nations General Assembly offered no solutions to the dispute over his country’s nuclear activities. Instead, Ahmadinejad blasted the United States for waging the war in Iraq and Israel for occupying Palestinian territories.
He said no UN organization could resist the will of the United States and Britain, two of the Security Council’s five veto-wielding permanent members, along with Russia, France and China. “Regrettably, the persistence of some hegemonic powers in imposing their exclusionist policies on international decision-making mechanisms, including the Security Council, has resulted in a growing mistrust in global public opinion, undermining the credibility and effectiveness of this most universal system of collective security,” he said.
As long as the Security Council is unable to act on behalf of the international community, it “will never be legitimate nor effective,” Ahmadinejad said. His country’s nuclear activities are “transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eyes of IAEA inspectors,” he said, referring to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He also charged that the governments objecting to Iran’s nuclear program are themselves benefiting from nuclear energy. “Some of them have abused nuclear technology for non-peaceful ends, including the production of nuclear bombs, and some even have a bleak record of using them against humanity,” he said.
Ahmadinejad — who was to remain in New York until later this week and had scheduled a press conference yesterday at UN headquarters — addressed the 191-nation assembly late Tuesday, hours after US President George W Bush spoke to the same body, demanding that Tehran cooperate with the IAEA and United Nations in suspending its uranium-enrichment program.
Ahmadinejad had called for a televised direct debate with Bush, who rejected the idea. While Bush was at UN headquarters Tuesday morning, Ahmadinejad was not on UN premises.
Iran’s most powerful leader said yesterday that maintaining a strong military was a major objective for the Islamic Republic to deter foreign aggressors. The United States and other Western nations have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear arms under the veil of a civilian atomic energy program, a charge Iran strongly denies. Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution to the dispute, but has not ruled out a military option.
“Experience has proved that a peace-seeking nation ... should be able to defend itself against ... aggressors,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a meeting with the armed forces.
