In UN Speech, Ahmadinejad Condemns Israel’s ‘Continued Threats’ of War

The Iranian President also criticized US hegemony and its 'unilateralism, application of double standards, and imposition of wars'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned US hegemony in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday and called for a “new world order” that does not bestow a few great powers with so much sway over the international system.

“The current abysmal situations of the world are due mainly to the wrong leadership of the world who have entrusted themselves to the devil,” he said, adding that allowing five countries to have veto power at the UN Security Council is “in no way acceptable.”

The Iranian President also condemned “the military actions against Afghanistan and Iraq that left millions killed and homeless,” and the “continued threats by the uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation.”

“Unilateralism, application of double standards, and imposition of wars, instability and occupation to ensure economic interests and expand dominance over sensitive centers of the world have served to be the order of the day,” he said. “Arms race and intimidation by nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction by the hegemonic powers have become prevalent.”

Both the United States delegation and Israel’s delegation to the UN boycotted Ahmadinejad’s speech to protest the anti-Israel views Ahmadinejad.

While he did not include Holocaust denial in his speech or other fiery rhetoric as is often expected of him for these speeches, Ahmadinejad instead criticized the US presidential election for spending ” hundreds of millions on election campaigns” and not listening to the “will and views of the masses,” which he termed the “99 percent.”

Ahmadinejad also condemned capitalism as a “failed practice” that is “bogged down in a self made quagmire and has unleashed a deadlock and has not been able to come up with any solution to the economic and social problems of the world.”

The speech did not refer specifically to the harsh set of economic sanctions the US has imposed on Iran, which is crippling their economy.

Author: John Glaser

John Glaser writes for Antiwar.com.