Iranian leader uses U.N. platform to work on image

? Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to be enjoying the spotlight at this year’s U.N. General Assembly, easing his way into the international arena and trying to improve his image amid the controversy about his nuclear program and remarks about Israel and the Holocaust.

When an Israeli reporter challenged him into answering a question at a news conference Thursday, Ahmadinejad at first stalled, whispered in Farsi to an adviser to skip the reporter, but then reluctantly gave his response.

On Thursday, he explained that when he called for the destruction of Israel and dismissed the Holocaust as a myth, his issue was not with the Jewish people but with Zionists, “who are not Jews.”

“We love everyone in the world – Jews, Christians, Muslims, non-Muslims, non-Jews, non-Christians,” he said, adding “we are against ugly acts.”

“Everyone is respected. But I repeat, we are against aggression, occupation, killings. … We declare this in a loud voice,” he said.

But Yaniv Halily, a reporter with Israel’s Yediot Ahronot, was not impressed.

“He’s trying to portray an image of a nice guy after all the things he said about Israel. Now he knows everyone thinks he’s a bad guy,” Halily said.

“He may sound nicer on the surface, but on the inside he’s the same,” said Kamran Dadkhah, an economics professor at Northeastern University in Boston.

Ahmadinejad was vague when asked if Iran would stop arming Hezbollah and comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution to disarm the Lebanese guerrilla group, which fought a 34-day war with Israel this summer. He said Iran gives only spiritual and cultural support to the Shiite Muslim group.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, accompanied by his U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, and United Nations security, answers questions Thursday after a news conference at U.N. headquarters.

“We support … peace and permanent stability in Lebanon, and we will fall short of no measure in promoting this goal. Whether it’s in the cultural or spiritual support that we can render or whether it is the role that we can play in the international arena, we will do our best. And this is the fundamental principle of our foreign policy, and it does not preclude Lebanon,” he said.

At the news conference, Ahmadinejad also expressed love and affection for the American people, just as President Bush reached out to the Iranian people in his General Assembly speech on Tuesday. Ahmadinejad said he wished he had more time here to spend with them in person.

“The people of the United States are highly respected by us,” he said. “Many people in the United States believe in God and believe in justice.” He thanked the New York City police and security forces for protecting him during his stay here and apologized to New Yorkers for traffic disruptions from the arrival of world leaders to attend the U.N. General Assembly session.

He reserved his harsh words for the U.S. government, which is pushing to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions against Iran if it does not suspend uranium enrichment.

“It’s not the nuclear bomb that the American government is worried about, for there are countries in our region that are armed with a nuclear bomb and are incidentally supported by the U.S. government. Now, how is this?” Ahmadinejad said.

Using a Persian expression to demonstrate a U.S. double-standard, the Iranian leader said:

“In Iran, we say there are two skies over a roof, or two kinds of wind running over the same ceiling. It doesn’t seem plausible.

“We say if fuel cycle for peaceful purposes is something good, then it should be good for everyone. If it’s a bad thing, it’s bad for everyone,” he said.