NEW YORK, Sept. 25--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly late Tuesday, after raising questions about who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks in a tense showdown at Columbia University.
In his interview with AP, he presented his country as a reasonable seeker of peace and justice, and denied that it holds any violent intentions against the United States, Israel or any of its immediate neighbors.
Asked about his country’s nuclear intentions during the appearance at Columbia on Monday, Ahmadinejad insisted the program is peaceful, legal and entirely within Iran’s rights, despite attempts by “monopolistic, selfish“ powers to derail it.
“How come is it that you have that right, and we can’t have it?“ he said.
Asked why he had asked to visit the World Trade Center site--a request denied by New York authorities--Ahmadinejad said he wanted to express sympathy for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Then he appeared to question whether Al-Qaeda was responsible, saying more research was needed.
“If the root causes of 9/11 are examined properly--why it happened, what caused it, what were the conditions that led to it, who truly was involved, who was really involved--and put it all together to understand how to prevent the crisis in Iraq, fix the problem in Afghanistan and Iraq combined,“ he said.
He argued that his administration respected reason and science.
Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger, set the combative tone in his introduction of Ahmadinejad: “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.“
Ahmadinejad drew audience applause at times, such as when he bemoaned the plight of the Palestinians.
Ahmadinejad is accused of calling for Israel’s elimination in the past. But his exact remarks have been disputed. Some translators say he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,“ but others say that would be better translated as “vanish from the pages of time“--implying Israel would disappear on its own rather than be destroyed.
Asked by an audience member if Iran sought the destruction of Israel, Ahmadinejad did not answer directly.
“We are friends of all the nations,“ he said. “We are friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security.“
Ahmadinejad’s past statements about the Holocaust also have raised hackles in the West, and were soundly attacked by Bollinger.
“In a December 2005 state television broadcast, you described the Holocaust as the fabricated legend,“ Bollinger told Ahmadinejad in his opening remarks. “One year later, you held a two-day conference of Holocaust deniers.“
Bollinger said that might fool the illiterate and ignorant.
“When you come to a place like this, it makes you simply ridiculous. The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad said he wasn’t passing judgment on whether the Holocaust occurred, but that, “assuming this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?“
He went on to say that he was defending the rights of European academics imprisoned for “questioning certain aspects“ of the Holocaust, an apparent reference to a small number who have been prosecuted under national laws for denying or minimizing the genocide.
“There’s nothing known as absolute,“ he said.
Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust has been abused as a justification for Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians.
“Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?“ he asked.
Bollinger had attracted criticism for inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia and promised tough questions in his introduction, but the stridency of his attack on the Iranian leader took many by surprise.
Bollinger’s introduction was “very harsh“, said Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University.
“Inviting him and then turning around and alienating and insulting an entire nation whose representative this man happens to be is simply inappropriate,“ said Dabashi, who also criticized Ahmadinejad.

TEHRAN, Sept. 25--International Atomic Energy Agency officials began talks here on Monday to resolve pending issues related to the country’s nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the agenda included centrifuge machines, which can enrich uranium for nuclear fuel, Alalam.ir reported.
“The delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in Iran and their negotiations are a continuation of previous talks held in the same framework,“ he said.
Three previous rounds of talks were held this summer, one in Vienna and two in Tehran.
IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei earlier this month praised Iran’s cooperation with the agency as a significant step, and called on Tehran to answer outstanding questions--including reported experiments that link enrichment--before the end of the year.
Iran has vowed to clarify all issues while carrying on its uranium enrichment activities, insisting its program is peaceful and geared solely toward producing electricity.
Tehran last month offered a rare concession and allowed IAEA inspectors to revisit a heavy-water reactor under construction outside Arak, central Iran, that has been off-limits since April.
The UN Security Council has already slapped two sets of sanctions, mostly economic and targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Iran has rejected both resolutions as illegal, saying it will not give up its right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.

TEHRAN, Sept. 25--Majlis Research Center called on the High Administrative Council to seriously follow-up administrative improvement and distribution of manpower in the governmental sector.
This and other proposals were made to the council, in response to a request by Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel for probing the council’s performance.
The center noted that the main goal of setting up High Administrative Council was to improve systems, methods, human resources management and administrative structure.
It pointed out that a review of the council’s approvals shows the number of decisions taken in the field of management and human resources planning has been relatively fewer than in other areas.
Noting that the council has faced many difficulties in the past 17 years, the center said the council’s main duty is to reform the country’s administrative system.
This is while according to articles 129 and 154 of the Fourth Economic Development Plan (2005-10), any merger or insolvency of ministries, institutions and organizations is possible through a Majlis approval, it said.
The center pointed out that the lawmakers attending the council’s sessions as observers can play a more effective role in supervising the council’s performance.

TEHRAN, Sept. 25--Governor of the Central Bank of Iran said CBI is prepared to face any new sanctions.
Speaking in a press conference, Tahmasb Mazaheri also said CBI has adopted an eight-article strategy to control the inflation rate.
Noting that reduction of inflation rate is defined in the framework of interaction between liquidity and economic growth, he said liquidity growth should be controlled.
The CBI chief said another issue that should be taken into account is preventing the printing of banknotes without CBI supervision.
“Bank resources should be directed toward fast-yielding production projects with more supervision,“ he said.
The governor noted that supervision over CBI’s monetary and fiscal activities is one of the most important priorities in the field of banking.
“Another measure to curb inflation is by reducing the bank debts to CBI and minimizing them by the end of current Iranian year (March 19, 2008),“ he said.
Mazaheri pointed out that Iran is the only country in the world that allows some financial institutions to operate without CBI supervision.
Asked about the presence of foreign banks in Iran, he said according to Article 1 of the Law for Encouraging and Supporting Foreign Investors, all investors can invest in different fields.
The CBI chief warned foreign banks, which have cut business ties with Tehran, that they will lose out when they return to the country.
Mazaheri further said a number of foreign banks have decided to cease all relations with the banks here and even companies in which Iran has a stake.
“We summoned their representatives and we said that their decision was not professional and had no justification.“
He further said such a decision is unacceptable.
“It is a political decision and we told them that we will not forget and we will give an adequate response when the moment comes--when these banks want to come back to Iran,“ he said.
Asked about Iran’s response to further economic sanctions, Mazaheri said, “We are prepared to face all situations.“

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 25--Lebanon’s Parliament on Tuesday adjourned for four weeks a crucial session to elect a new president for lack of a quorum and to allow more time for MPs to reach agreement on a consensus candidate.
“Today’s session has been adjourned to October 23 at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) for lack of a quorum,“ parliament speaker Nabih Berri said in a statement shortly after lawmakers were to convene for the first time in nearly a year, AFP reported.
A two-thirds majority of the 127-strong parliament is required for a candidate to be elected by parliament in the first round of voting to replace the current pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud, whose terms ends in November.
In the event of a second round, a simple majority suffices.
Most of the 58 MPs from the Hezbollah-led opposition boycotted Tuesday’s session on the grounds that the feuding political parties had failed to agree on a consensus candidate to replace Lahoud.
“We hope to reach an agreement in the next few days and weeks so we can have a quorum,“ said MP Hussein Hajj Hassan.
“The only way to guarantee a constitutional and legal election is to reach an agreement. The ball is now in the court of the ruling majority.“
MP Samir Frangieh, a member of the ruling Western-backed majority, made clear that his camp planned to go ahead with a vote when parliament reconvenes in October even if no agreement is struck.
Deputy Parliament Speaker Farid Makari, reading a statement in the name of the ruling anti-Syrian March 14 bloc, said his camp would continue to seek constructive dialogue to salvage the election and spare the country from a political vacuum.
“These are the first elections in three decades...to elect a president outside of Syrian tutelage,“ he said, referring to the 2005 pullout of Syrian troops from Lebanon after nearly three decades of domination.
Although Berri had summoned rival factions to convene on Tuesday, it was clear beforehand that an actual vote would not take place.
Berri, nonetheless, has voiced optimism that Lebanon’s divided parties would strike a compromise by November 24, when Lahoud’s term ends.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora’s government has been paralyzed since opposition forces, which include factions backed by Syria, withdrew their six ministers from the cabinet in November 2006.
Fears are running high that the deadlock over the presidency could lead to two rival governments, a grim reminder of the end of the 1975-90 civil war when two competing administrations battled it out.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 25--A spate of powerful car and suicide bombings has killed 44 people and wounded more than 100 in less than 24 hours across Iraq, shattering what had been a relatively calm holy month of Ramadan.
Police in the restive city of Baquba north of Baghdad on Tuesday revised to 28 killed and 34 wounded the casualty toll from a devastating suicide attack on Monday evening in a village mosque, AFP reported.
Security and health officials in the Iraqi capital, meanwhile, said a double car bombing on Tuesday morning killed six people and wounded at least 20, while a suicide car bomber in the southern city of Basra killed three people.
Monday night’s attack targeted a reconciliation meeting between two feared militias at Shifta Village west of Baquba during the evening meal that breaks the daytime fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan.
Seven policemen, including three high-ranking officers, were killed when the suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in the crowded mosque.
“We have a total of 28 people killed and 34 wounded,“ police Brigadier General Khaider Al-Timimi told AFP.
His figures were confirmed by the head of Baquba morgue, Ahmed Fuad.
An Iraqi security official said the reconciliation meeting was between the Shiite Mahdi Army militia and the Sunni insurgent group, the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution.
In recent months, the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution have joined forces with the US military in securing volatile Sunni Arab regions across Iraq.
The overwhelmingly Shiite city of Basra has been the scene of bloody inter-Shiite rivalry between radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr’s militia, Abdel Aziz Hakim’s Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council and the Fadhila Party.
The security forces, especially the police, have been widely infiltrated by the Shiite militias whose rivalry over control of southern Iraq’s largest city has escalated since British forces withdrew in early September.
The fresh surge of violence comes amid a period of relative calm that followed a bloody start to Ramadan on September 13, when top Sunni sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha, who spearheaded a fight against Al-Qaeda, was killed by a bomb in Anbar province.
Senior US military commanders say that levels of violence during Ramadan, which since the US-led invasion of 2003 has become a period of increased bloodletting, will provide an indicator as to how soon American troop levels in Iraq can be reduced.