Upon taking office, President Barack Obama made headlines by stating that he would actively try to rebuild relations with Iran and its wayward president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, Ahmadinejad’s continual outspoken criticism of the United States, coupled with Iran’s burgeoning nuclear program, have severely hindered this process.
In an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23, Ahmadinejad poured gasoline on the fire by making what many believe to be inflammatory remarks about the United States Government’s roll in 9/11. Interspersed in between attacks on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he alluded to those who have speculated, “That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.”
He also asserted that, “the majority of the American people, as well as most nations and politicians, agree with this view.” Ahmadinejad also mentioned others who believe that the attacks were carried out by, “a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation.”
Immediately, while the comments were being made, delegates from the U.S. walked out of the General Assembly Hall and were followed by delegates from over 30 other nations. President Obama added to the outcry against Ahmadinejad in an interview with the BBC Persian the following day, calling the remarks, “inexcusable,” adding, ““It was offensive. It was hateful. And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of ground zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation.”
President Ahmadinejad has not been afraid to stir up controversy ever since he became Iran’s president in 2005 and stated in a public address that, in reference to Israel, “This origin of corruption will soon be wiped of the earth’s face.” He has also ignored the U.N.’s four attempts since 2006 to sanction Iran in response to its ongoing program to enrich uranium which the U.N. has claimed is breaking the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The international community has not accepted Ahmadinejad’s claims that Iran’s nuclear research is only for peaceful means such as power. In the same interview with BBC Persia, Obama stated that in order for economic sanctions to be lifted from Iran, its government “will have to take on a different course than the one it has been on as of late.
