Ahmadinejad to leave for New York Sunday

[Marcus Marulus]

Ahmadinejad to leave for New York Sunday

Tue Sep 18

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's President Mahmound Ahmadinejad is to leave for New York on Sunday to address the UN General Assembly, despite calls in Washington for him to be banned from the gathering, his office said.

The president will give his third speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, before returning to Iran on Saturday, a presidential aide, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

He did not give further details on the president's itinerary while in the United States, Iran's arch enemy.

The White House said the US State Department has issued a visa to Ahmadinejad but rejected his latest offer of a public debate with President George W. Bush at the United Nations.

US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Monday called for Ahmadinejad to be banned from the UN General Assembly next week and called on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to revoke Ahmadinejad's invitation.

"If President Ahmadinejad sets foot in the United States, he should be handed an indictment under the Genocide Convention," Romney wrote in a letter to Ban.

He complained Ahmadinejad had "spoken openly about wiping Israel off the map, has fueled Hezbollah's terror campaign in the region and around the world, and defied the world community in its pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities."

Last year, at the General Assembly meetings, Ahmadinejad launched a scathing attack on the United States and Britain, accusing them of manipulating the world body to deny his country the benefits of nuclear power.

[source]