Diplomats walk out during Ahmadinejad UN address
Diplomats walk out on the United Nations General Assembly during a speech by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations. (Sept. 23, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
Capitalism is limping on its last leg, most people believe the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were an inside job and Iran has been more than cooperative with inspectors probing whether the country is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday at the United Nations.
Ahmadinejad's address to a sparsely populated hall at the General Assembly prompted U.S. officials and other diplomats to walk out.
Diplomats gathered their papers and strode past Ahmadinejad as he spoke at the podium in a half-hour, wide-ranging speech where he decried the "Zionists who committed the most horrible crimes" against Palestinians, criticized the structure of the United Nations and began writing capitalism's obituary.
"After about 100 years of domination, the system of capitalism and the existing world order has proved to be unable to provide appropriate solution to the problems of societies, thus coming to an end," he said.
Ahmadinejad also asserted that the "majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree" that "some segments within that the U.S. government orchestrated the [Sept. 11] attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East."
The remarks echoed statements he made Tuesday at the UN during a meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, the UN-sponsored program designed to reduce the incidence of extreme poverty by half by 2015.
Ahmadinejad said his country has complied with its obligations to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, saying "yet, we have never submitted to illegally imposed pressures, nor will we ever do so."
In June, the 15-member UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions to compel Iran to comply with demands that it be more forthcoming about how it intends to use nuclear energy. The resolution expanded an arms embargo and tightened restrictions on financial and shipping activities.
Earlier Thursday, President Barack Obama told the General Assembly that Iran remains isolated for its inability to demonstrate a peaceful goal for its nuclear program. Security Council members fear Iran ultimately wants to build a nuclear weapon, but Ahmadinejad has long said that the program is for peaceful purposes.
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