Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Ahmadinejad and his host Keith Moon at the U.N. today

UNITED NATIONS - Iran’s president blamed U.S. military interventions around the world in part for the
collapse of global financial markets ahead of his speech Tuesday to the U.N. General Assembly.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said the campaign against his country’s nuclear program was solely due to the Bush administration “and a couple of their European friends.”

“The U.S. government has made a series of mistakes in the past few decades,” Ahmadinejad said an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “The imposition on the U.S. economy of the years of heavy military engagement and involvement around the world … the war in Iraq, for example. These are heavy costs imposed on the U.S. economy.

“The world economy can no longer tolerate the budgetary deficit and the financial pressures occurring from markets here in the United States, and by the U.S. government,” he added.

In a separate interview with National Public Radio, Ahmadinejad said he does not want confrontation with the United States. He said he wants diplomatic relations to develop between the two countries and was willing, for example, to cooperate on upholding security in Iraq.

“We do not have confrontations with anyone,” he said. “The U.S. administration interferes, and we defend ourselves.”

Despite U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad claimed vast international support for his position and said the campaign consisted “of only three or four countries, led by the United States and with a couple of their European friends.”

Iran insists its nuclear activities are geared only toward generating power. But Israel says the Islamic Republic could have enough nuclear material to make its first bomb within a year. The U.S. estimates Tehran is at least two years away from that stage.

Last year, thousands rallied at the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad’s speech. When he was ushered to the podium of the General Assembly to speak, the U.S. delegation walked out, leaving only a low-ranking note-taker to listen to his speech.

Ahmadinejad’s speech will come just hours after President Bush made his eighth and final speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

Bush said Tuesday the international community must stand firm against the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea. And he said that despite past disagreements over the U.S.-led war in Iraq, members of the U.N. must unite to help the struggling democracy succeed.

“A few nations, regimes like Syria and Iran, continue to sponsor terror,” Bush said. “Yet their numbers are growing fewer, and they’re growing more isolated from the world. As the 21st century unfolds, some may be tempted to assume that the threat has receded. This would be comforting. It would be wrong. The terrorists believe time is on their side, so they’ve made waiting out civilized nations part of their strategy. We must not allow them to succeed.”

Bush also scolded Russia for invading neighboring Georgia, calling it a violation of the U.N. charter.

“The United Nations’ charter sets forth the equal rights of nations large and small,” he said. “Russia’s invasion of Georgia was a violation of those words.”

(AP)