Ahmadinejad: U.S. 'orchestrated' Sept. 11

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A host of nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly meeting Thursday when the Iranian president said the United States orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks.

Representatives of the United States, 27 European nations, the European Union, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Costa Rica walked out during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech when he said "the majority of the American people" and "most nations and politicians around the world" believe "some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order to save the Zionist regime."

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations quickly condemned Ahmadinejad's speech.

"Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people, 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," the mission said in a statement.

Ahmadinejad has said in the past that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington were a "a big fabrication" used "as a pretext for the campaign against terrorism and a prelude for staging an invasion against Afghanistan," The New York Times reported.