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Iran's president arrives in N.Y. amid protests

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 24, 2007

NEW YORK - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York to protests Sunday and said in a TV interview that Iran was neither building a nuclear bomb nor headed to war with the United States.

The president's motorcade pulled up to the midtown hotel where he will be staying while he appears at events including the U.N. General Assembly and a forum at Columbia University, where about 40 elected officials and civic leaders on Sunday protested his visit.

Ahmadinejad's public-relations push appears aimed at presenting his views directly to a U.S. audience amid rising strains and talk of war between the two nations.

Tensions are high between Washington and Tehran over U.S. accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, as well as helping Shiite militias in Iraq that target U.S. troops - claims Iran denies.

"Well, you have to appreciate we don't need a nuclear bomb. We don't need that. What need do we have for a bomb?" Ahmadinejad said in a 60 Minutes interview taped in Iran on Thursday and aired Sunday on CBS.

He also said that: "It's wrong to think that Iran and the U.S. are walking toward war. Who says so? Why should we go to war? There is no war in the offing."

Ahmadinejad is scheduled to speak at Columbia University today and address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Since taking office two years ago, he has grabbed headlines for outrageous statements, including denying the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. His request to lay a wreath at ground zero was denied.

[Last modified September 23, 2007, 23:36:44]