NEW YORK, SEPT 24 (AP): Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York to protests and said in a television interview that Iran was neither building a nuclear bomb nor headed to war with the United States.
The president's motorcade Sunday pulled up to the midtown hotel where he will be staying while he appears at a series of events including the UN General Assembly and a forum at Columbia University, where about 40 elected officials and civic leaders decried his visit.
Ahmadinejad's public-relations push appears aimed at presenting his views directly to a US audience amid rising strains and talk of war between the two nations.
Tensions are high between Washington and Tehran over US accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, as well as helping Shiite militias in Iraq that target US troops - claims Iran denies.
"Well, you have to appreciate we don't need a nuclear bomb. We don't need that. What need do we have for a bomb?" Ahmadinejad said in the "60 Minutes" interview taped in Iran Thursday. "In political relations right now, the nuclear bomb is of no use. If it was useful it would have prevented the downfall of the Soviet Union."
He also said that: "It's wrong to think that Iran and the US are walking toward war. Who says so? Why should we go to war? There is no war in the offing."
Ahmadinejad arrives in New York for UN meeting
FE Team | Published: September 25, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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