News Brief

Iran’s president delivered a scathing attack on Zionists at the United Nations.

In an address replete with classical anti-Semitic motifs, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Zionists are criminals and murderers, are “acquisitive” and “deceitful,” and dominate global finance despite their “minuscule” number.

“It is deeply disastrous to witness that some presidential nominees have to visit these people, take part in their gatherings and swear their allegiance and commitment to their interests in order to win financial or media support,” Ahmadinejad said.

“These nations are spending their dignity and resources on the crimes and threats of the Zionist network against their will.”

Ahmadinejad said the “Zionist regime” was on the path to collapse and that a messianic age of peace and brotherhood is soon to arrive.

The Iranian president also sounded a defiant note with respect to his country’s nuclear program, which he described as peaceful but which Western nations suspect of pursuing weapons capability. Ahmadinejad called nuclear power his country’s “inalienable” right and accused “a few bullying powers” of opposing Iran’s progress.

“It is very natural that the great Iranian people, with their trust in God and with determination and steadfastness, and with the support of its friends, will resist the bullying and will continue to defend its rights,” he said. “We will not accept illegal demands.”

Ahmadinejad also included the “underhanded actions of the Zionists” as among the causes of the recent unrest in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said Israel’s demise would benefit everyone, especially the United States.

“The regime resembles an airplane that has lost its engine and is kind of going down. And no one can help it,” he said. “This will benefit everyone.”