Attack by Iran's Ahmadinejad sparks Israel walkout

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran's president called Israel a nuclear-armed "fake regime" shielded by the United States, prompting Israel's U.N. ambassador to walk out of a high-level U.N. meeting Monday promoting the rule of law.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also accused the U.S. and others of misusing freedom of speech and failing to speak out against the defamation of people's beliefs and "divine prophets," an apparent reference to the recently circulated amateur video made in the U.S. which attacks Islam and denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.

The Iranian leader, who has called for Israel's destruction, used his speech to denounce Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory and U.S. vetoes in the U.N. Security Council to back its ally. He urged all nations to "hold occupiers accountable and make efforts to return the occupied territories to their rightful owners."

Ahmadinejad blamed the "discriminatory" veto power of the U.S., China, Russia, Britain and Francefor the Security Council's failure to ensure peace in the world, and he called for a change in the rules "in favor of nations with due regard to justice."

As Ahmadinejad addressed leaders and ministers from more than 100 countries, Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor walked out of the General Assembly hall.

"Ahmadinejad showed again that he not only threatens the future of the Jewish people, he seeks to erase our past," Prosor said in a statement.

"Three thousand years of Jewish history illustrate the clear danger of ignoring fanatics like Iran's President, especially as he inches closer to acquiring nuclear weapons," he said. "Those who ignore his hateful words today, will bear responsibility for his deeds tomorrow."

Israel views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat, but Iran insists its nuclear program is purely peaceful and aimed solely at producing nuclear energy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Tehran is moving closer to producing a nuclear weapon and has been pushing the United States to set "red lines" which, if crossed, might lead to American military action. President Barack Obama has refused to set any "red lines."

The U.S. delegation did not walk out of Monday's meeting, as it has in the past when Iran attacked Israel directly.

Ahmadinejad did not name either Israel or the U.S. in his speech but his targets were clear when he said: "We have witnessed that some members of the Security Council with veto right have chosen silence with regard to the nuclear warheads of a fake regime while at the same time they impede scientific progress of other nations."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon organized the first-ever high-level U.N. meeting on the rule of law hoping to send a strong signal to people everywhere that world leaders "are serious about establishing well-functioning institutions and delivering justice."

He told delegates he is proud that the United Nations is promoting the rule of law in more than 150 countries.

Ban called on all states to apply the law equally, both nationally and internationally, and not allow political self-interest to undermine justice. He also called on world leaders "to uphold the highest standards of the rule of law in their decision-making at all times."

At the start of the day-long meeting, diplomats from more than 100 countries adopted a declaration reaffirming "that states shall abide by all their obligations under international law." It stresses the importance of the rule of law in preventing and resolving conflicts and building peace in countries emerging from war and urges the U.N. and the international community to support such efforts.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the meeting "historic" and said the United States will continue "to support U.N.-led efforts to improve access to legal aid, to more effectively combat drug trafficking and organized crime" and to promote the rule of law in conflict and post-conflict situations.

He said the meeting underscored a key conclusion in a recent World Bank report "that in today's world, the greatest threat to development and recovery is a weak rule of law."

Many speakers cited the impact of corruption and stressed that no one can be above the law, from high government officials to ordinary citizens.

"In developing nations, corruption is the mortal enemy of democracy," Mongolia's President Tsakhia Elbegdorj said. "It is like an infectious disease — it must be attacked head on."

He said high-level corruption also hurts development, so the fight for the rule of law "is also a fight for more transparent and successful economic development."

Iran test-fires missiles designed to hit warships

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has test-fired four missiles designed to hit warships during a drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian military commander said.

The missiles were fired simultaneously and hit a "big target" the size of a warship, sinking it within 50 seconds, Gen. Ali Fadavi of the powerful Revolutionary Guard was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

The Fars report late Monday was the first indication of an Iranian military exercise taking place simultaneously and close to U.S.-led joint naval maneuvers in the Persian Gulf, including mine-sweeping drills, which got under way last week.

The U.S. Navy claims the maneuvers are not directly aimed at Iran, but the West and its regional allies have made clear they would react against attempts by Tehran to carry out threats to try to close critical Gulf oil shipping lanes in retaliation for tighter sanctions over its disputed nuclear program.

Fadavi did not elaborate on the ongoing Iranian exercise or the type of missiles fired but said the Guard is planning a "massive naval maneuver in the near future" in the strait.

Iran regularly holds maneuvers to upgrade its military readiness as well as test its equipment.

The latest drill comes amid tension over Iran's nuclear program and Israel's suggestion that it might unilaterally strike Iranian nuclear facilities to scuttle what the U.S. and its allies believe are efforts to build an atomic bomb.

Tehran denies it is pursuing such weapons and insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

On Sunday, a senior Guard commander warned that Iran would target U.S. bases in the region in the event of war with Israel. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Guard's aerospace division, claimed no Israeli attack can happen without the support of its most important ally, the United States, making all U.S. military bases a legitimate target.

Iran has in the past also warned that oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the route for a fifth of the world's oil, will be in jeopardy if a war breaks out.

Obama to urge UN to confront roots of Muslim rage

Associated Press/Pablo Martinez Monsivais - President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One upon his arrival, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, at JFK airport in New York. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

NEW YORK (AP) — Campaign politics shadowing every word,President Barack Obama on Tuesday will challenge the world to confront the root causes of rage exploding across the Muslim world, calling it a defining choice "between the forces that would drive us apart and the hopes we hold in common."

Obama will step before the United Nations General Assembly and declare that the United States will not shrink from its role in troubled, transitioning nations despite the killing of four Americans in Libya, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, and more than 50 people total in violence linked at least in part to an anti-Muslim film.

Obama will also to seek to show U.S. resolve in preventing Iranfrom developing a nuclear weapon, a menacing issue that has undermined White House relations with Israel's leadership.

In his final international address before the November election, Obama will stand up for democratic values on a stage afforded to presidents, not presidential challengers. He will use it to try to boost his political standing without ever mentioning Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

Were there any doubt that the U.S. presidential campaign hung heavy over Obama's speech, Romney shredded it by assailing Obama's foreign affairs leadership on the eve of the president's speech. Now comes Obama's chance to assert his world vision on his terms.

"Today, we must affirm that our future will be determined by people like Chris Stevens, and not by his killers," Obama said of the U.S. ambassador, who was killed during an assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that the White House has deemed a terrorist attack. "Today, we must declare that this violence and intolerance has no place among our United Nations."

The White House released excerpts in advance of Obama's midmorning speech.

Obama's comments will be scrutinized around the globe and by the gathering of presidents and prime ministers in the famed United Nations hall, given the tumult, terrorism, nuclear threats and poverty that bind so many nations. His emphasis will be on the unrest in the Muslim world and on Iran, whose disputed nuclear ambitions have unnerved much of the world and caused tension between the United States and longstanding ally Israel over whether Obama has forcefully defined his breaking point for military action.

"Make no mistake: a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained," Obama says in his speech. He adds: "That is why a coalition of countries is holding the Iranian government accountable. And that is why the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

That language remains as specific as Obama will publicly describe his "red line" for military intervention.

Setting a sharp political context for the speech, Romney went on the offensive Monday.

"This is time for a president who will shape events in the Middle East, not just be merciful or be at the mercy of the events," Romney said. Focusing on the killing of Stevens and mass bloodshed in Syria, Romney repeatedly ridiculed Obama's comment that nations moving toward democracy after the Arab Spring face "bumps in the road."

That prompted White House spokesman Jay Carney to fire back at Romney: "There is a certain rather desperate attempt to grasp at words and phrases here to find political advantage, and in this case that's profoundly offensive."

Obama's activities at the United Nations say plenty, too: There are not many of them. Campaigning is his imperative.

He is skipping the private meetings with key allies that a U.S. president typically schedules when the whole international community comes to New York. The president will spend only 24 hours in New York in total this time, and he spent some of it Monday to appear on "The View," giving a talk show interview intended to sell his election pitch to a big TV audience.

The dominant theme of Obama's U.N. speech will be his response to the protests raging in places across the Middle East and North Africa. As he has for days, Obama will condemn the violence, defend democratic principles of free speech and promise no U.S. withdrawal of outreach.

Much of the growing ire is aimed at the United States because of anti-Islam film produced in this country, but the White House has now deemed the attack on its consulate in Libya a "terrorist attack" and has not ruled out the possibility it was premeditated. Obama now says it "wasn't just a mob action."

"There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents," Obama says in the speech excerpts. "There is no video that justifies an attack on an embassy. There is no slander that provides an excuse for people to burn a restaurant in Lebanon, or destroy a school in Tunis, or cause death and destruction in Pakistan."

In a preview of Obama's speech, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed Monday for Muslims to show "dignity" as they protest the film denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.

"Dignity does not come from avenging insults," she said in a speech to her husband's Clinton Global Initiative. Romney and Obama were to speak there as well on Tuesday.

The secretary of state was also standing in for Obama, meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan,Egypt, Libya and Pakistan. She was due later in the week to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

For U.S. presidents, the yearly United Nations address is always laced with domestic politics even though the speeches are scripted without campaign references. Wars and the failed attempts at Mideast peace have dominated in recent years.

Romney's campaign made the campaign linkage directly Monday.

"On the eve of his United Nations address, President Obama's foreign policy is in disarray," spokesman Ryan Williams said. "As president, Mitt Romney will repair our relationships abroad and create a safer, more secure nation."

Polling shows Obama has a clear edge over Romney when voters are asked who they think is a stronger leader and would better protect the country.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this story.

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Iran's president dismisses threats on nuke program

NEW YORK (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday dismissed threats of military action against Iran's nuclear program, arguing that his country's project to enrich uranium is only for peaceful purposes and saying that Iran has no worries about a possible Israeli attack.

Ahmadinejad spoke before a group of editors and news executives after his arrival in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly. He told the group that it was not too late for dialogue with theUnited States to resolve differences.

But in his remarks, Ahmadinejad sought to delegitimize U.S. ally Israel's historic ties to the Middle East and its political and military power in the region and the world, saying that Israelis "do not even enter the equation for Iran."

"Fundamentally, we do not take seriously threats of the Zionists," said Ahmadinejad. "We believe the Zionists see themselves at a dead end and they want to find an adventure to get out of this dead end. While we are fully ready to defend ourselves, we do not take these threats seriously."

Ahmadinejad declared Israel has no place in the Middle East, saying that Iran has been around for thousands of years while the modern state of Israel has existed only for the last 60 or so years. "They have no roots there in history," he said.

White House press secretary Jay Carney responded to Ahmadinejad's remarks, telling a midday news briefing, "Well, President Ahmadinejad says foolish, offensive and sometimes unintelligible things with great regularity. What he should focus on is the failure of his government of Iran to abide by its international obligations, to abide by United Nations Security Council resolutions."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had met with Ahmadinejad on Sunday and "urged Iran to take the measures necessary to build international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. The U.N. chief also raised the potentially harmful consequences of inflammatory rhetoric "from various countries in the Middle East," Nesirky said.

On other topics in his meeting with editors, Ahmadinejad said that Iran favors a negotiated settlement to the civil war in Syria, and denied that Tehran is providing weapons or training to the government of President Bashar Assad, as Assad's opponents and others have alleged.

"We like and love both sides, and we see both sides as brothers," he said. He referred to the conflict in Syria as "tribal" fighting and said that international "meddling from the outside has made the situation even harder." He refused to say whether Iran would accept a government not led by the Assad regime, which for years has been Iran's closest ally in the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad met journalists in the mid-town hotel where he was saying. It was Ahmadinejad's eighth visit to the U.N. gathering held each September, which he cited as proof that he is open to understanding other countries' views.

In spite of his assertions on the importance of dialogue and respect for others, Ahmadinejad presented a hard line in many areas. He refused to speak of the state of Israel by name and instead referred only to the "Zionists," and when asked about author Salman Rushdie he made no attempt to distance himself from recent renewed threats on the author's life emanating from an Iranian semi-official religious foundation. "If he is in the U.S., you should not broadcast it for his own safety," Ahmadinejad said.

He said this would be his last trip to New York as president of Iran, because his term is ending and he is barred from seeking a third consecutive term. But he did not rule out staying active in Iranian politics and said he might return as part of future Iranian delegations to New York.

Ahmadinejad said the argument over Iran's nuclear program was a political rather than a legal matter and needs to be resolved politically.

"We are not expecting that a 33-year-old problem between America and Iran to be resolved in speedy discussions, but we do believe in dialogue."

Later in the day, Ahmadinejad took aim at both the United States and Israel while addressing a high-level U.N. meeting promoting the rule of law, accusing Washington of shielding what he called a nuclear-armed "fake regime." His remarks prompted a walkout by Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor.

"Ahmadinejad showed again that he not only threatens the future of the Jewish people, he seeks to erase our past," Prosor said in a statement. "Three thousand years of Jewish history illustrate the clear danger of ignoring fanatics like Iran's president, especially as he inches closer to acquiring nuclear weapons."

Ahmadinejad also alluded to the amateur anti-Islam video made in the U.S. that has caused protests across the Muslim world, accusing the United States and others of misusing freedom of speech and failing to speak out against the defamation of people's beliefs and "divine prophets."

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Obama warns U.S. will ‘do what we must’ on Iran

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