WarSclerotic

Ahmadinejad tells UN ‘uncivilized Zionists’ continue to threaten Iran – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

A day after President Obama said the U.S. will ‘do what it must’ to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons, Ahmadinejad calls for a new world order based on ‘cooperation and harmony.’

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the 67th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 26, 2012. Photo by Reuters

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the podium on Wednesday at the UN General Assembly in New York, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States will “do what it must” to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Ahmadinejad said that “arms race and intimidation by nuclear weapons and weapons of mass-‘destruction by the hegemonic powers have become prevalent,” and that “continued threat by the uncivilized Zionists toresort to military action against our great nation is a clear example of this bitter reality.”

As the Iranian president spoke, protesters took to the streets outside the UN building, many of them Iranian-Americans, demanding Iran’s UN seat be taken away from the Islamic Republic.

This is a developing story.

On Monday, Ahmadinejad said Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be “eliminated.” The White House dismissed his comments as “disgusting.

Without naming Ahmadinejad, Obama took a veiled swipe at him on Tuesday, saying the world must “leave behind” those who deny the Holocaust or reject Israel’s right to exist.

Seeking to step up pressure on Iran, Obama told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that there is still time for a diplomacy but that “time is not unlimited.”
His tough talk appeared aimed at easing Israeli concerns about U.S. resolve to curb Tehran’s nuclear drive, as he reasserted before the world body that he would never let Iran develop an atomic bomb and then simply contain the problem.

But he stopped short of meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand to set a specific “red line” that Iran must not cross if it is to avoid military action, and did not go much farther in his rhetoric than previously.

“A nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained,” he said. “It would threaten the elimination of Israel, the security of Gulf nations and the stability of the global economy.”

“The United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

In an apparent allusion to recent comments by U.S., Israeli and Iranian officials, Ban opened the annual UN General Assembly by warning states against threatening to attack one another and sounded a pessimistic note about Arab-Israeli peace.

“I also reject both the language of delegitimization and threats of potential military action by one state against another,” Ban said. “Any such attacks would be devastating.”

U.S. officials have repeatedly said that all options are on the table against Iran – code for a possible military strike – while Israel’s Netanyahu has called for a U.S. ultimatum to Iran. But Obama did not repeat that line in his speech.

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