Fury after Iran claims US backed 9/11 attack

THE United States delegation walked out of the UN speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last night after he said some in the world have speculated America was behind the 9/11 terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel's survival.

He did not explain the logic of that statement that was made as he attacked the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel and is deeply at odds with the US and European allies over Iran's nuclear programme and suspicions that it is attempting to produce an atomic bomb. Iran says it is only working on technology for electricity generation.

The US delegation left the hall after Ahmadinejad said there were different theories about the 11 September , 2001, attacks:

n That "powerful and complex terrorist group" penetrated US intelligence and defences.

n That some segments within the US 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 said: "The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view."

The Americans stood and walked out without listening to the third theory, that the attack was the work of "a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation".

Mark Kornblau, spokesman of the US mission to the world body, issued a statement within moments of Ahmadinejad's attack.

"Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people," he said,

"Mr Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable."

Ahmadinejad, who has in the past cast doubt over the US version of the 9/11 attacks, called for establishment of an independent fact-finding UN body to probe the attacks and stop it from turning into another sacred issue where "expressing opinion about it won't be banned".

He said the US used the attacks as a pretext to invade Afghanistan and Iraq that led to the killing of hundreds of thousands of people, saying the US should have "designed a logical plan" to punish the perpetrators while not shedding so much blood.

Ahmadinejad boasted of the capture in February of Abdulmalik Rigi, the leader of an armed Sunni group whose insurgency in the southeast of Iran has destabilised the border region with Pakistan. He said authorities did not resort to violence, but captured the suspect after trailing his movements in an operation by Iranian secret agents. Rigi was later hanged.

Ahmadinejad has in the past called the Security Council a "satanic tool" and has called its anti-Iran resolutions "not worth a cent".