VIDEO - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West on Tuesday of abusing the United Nations to try to deny Iran the right to peaceful nuclear technology which Western states enjoyed.
"The abuse of the Security Council, as an instrument of threat and coercion, is indeed a source of grave concern," he told the UN General Assembly.
Iran's nuclear activities are "transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye" of UN inspectors,
he added.
He reiterated his nation's commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as it faces accusations that it is seeking to develop atomic weapons.
Addressing the Palestinian issue, the Iranian president said that "Palestine was occupied under the guise of protecting some of World War II survivors. Moreover, afterwards many who were not even influenced by WWII were brought to Palestine. This is a tragedy. Can the nations accept such a situation?"
According to Ahmadinejad, "the tragedy did not end with the establishment of the regime on other people's land. It continues to constitute a threat in the Middle East and constitute a tool by other nations to promote their interests."
'Aggression and occupation'
His speech was sharply critical of the United States and Britain, and focused in large part on what he said was their abuse of the Security Council, on which they are both permanent members with veto power.
"The question needs to be asked: if the governments of the United States or the United Kingdom, who are permanent members of the Security Council, commit aggression, occupation and violation of international law, which of the UN organs can take them into account," he said.
"If they have differences with a nation or state, they drag it to the Security Council and as claimants, arrogate to themselves simultaneously the roes of prosecutor, judge and executioner," he added said. "Is this a just order?"
The US and Britain played central roles in helping craft a UN Security Council resolution passed in July that gave Iran until August 31 to suspend uranium enrichment and asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to report on Tehran's compliance, dangling the threat of sanctions if Iran refused. Tehran made clear even before the deadline expired that it had no intention of suspending uranium enrichment.
The Iranian leader also had harsh words about US efforts in Iraq, saying "the occupiers are incapable of establishing security in Iraq" and every day hundreds of people get killed "in cold blood."
Ahmadinejad claimed that numerous terrorists apprehended by the Iraqi government were "let loose under various pretexts by the occupiers."
"It seems that intensification of hostilities and terrorism serves as a pretext for the continued presence of foreign forces in Iraq," he said.
Referring to the recent war in Lebanon, Ahmadinejad charged that "the Lebanese people suffered for 33 days. At the same time the Security Council chose to stall in order to allow the Zionists to reach more accomplishments. Why?"
"The answer lies in the fact that hostile elements control the Security Council and therefore it failed in fulfilling its role," he added.
Earlier, President Bush accused Iran's rulers of spending their resources on funding terrorists and pursuing nuclear weapons and demanded that Iran abandon what he called "its nuclear weapons ambitions."