TEHRAN, Iran — Hours before he left Tehran on Tuesday for the United Nations, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was his usual combative self: threatening to cut off the hands of would-be invaders and calling the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan an insult to the region.
His remarks came at a military parade that featured jet fighters and missiles capable of reaching Israel and Europe. The speech veered from peace and security to the worship of God to warning “arrogant powers” that the “Iranian nation will resist all invaders.”
Ahmadinejad was accompanied by Gen. Mohammed Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guard, which has stood behind him during the massive protests following his disputed re-election in June.
Ahmadinejad is expected to address the U.N. General Assembly today, days after stating that the Holocaust was a lie and weeks before an Iranian delegation is scheduled to hold talks with world powers, including the U.S., that are concerned about Iran’s nuclear development program.
The Obama administration is pressuring Iran to divulge the scope of its nuclear efforts, which Washington alleges is aimed at building weapons. The U.S. and Europe believe Iran has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb. Iran says its program is designed solely for civilian energy purposes.
Ali Akbar Salehi, director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told a news conference Tuesday that the country was improving its centrifuges to enrich uranium more quickly. In a warning directed at the U.S. and Israel, which has suggested it might attack Iran’s nuclear installations, Ahmadinejad said: “No power and no country can dare even to think of attacking the Iranian nation. . . . Our armed forces will cut the hand off anyone in the world before it pulls the trigger against the Iranian nation.”
