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US walks out as Iranian president addresses UN

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told world leaders his country will defy any further UN Security Council resolutions imposed by "arrogant powers" seeking to curb its nuclear program, accusing them of lying and imposing illegal sanctions against Tehran.

He said it is "high time for these powers to return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of faith in God."

Undeterred, France and Germany increased pressure on the Islamic republic at the UN General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting on Tuesday, saying they would not accept a nuclear-armed Iran.

"Let's not fool ourselves. If Iran were to acquire the nuclear bomb, the consequences would be disastrous," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the session.

Ahmadinejad on Tuesday also indirectly accused the US and Israel of violating human rights by setting up secret prisons, abducting people, holding trials and enacting secret punishments without any regard to due process, and tapping phone conversations.

"They use various pretexts to occupy sovereign states and cause insecurity and division and then use the prevailing situation as an excuse to continue their occupation. For more than 60 years, Palestine, as compensation for the loss they incurred during the war in Europe, has been under the occupation of the illegal Zionist regime," he said.

Referring to the US government's policy on Iraq, he said: "They even oppose the constitution, National Assembly and the government established by the vote of the people, while they do not even have the courage to declare their defeat and exit Iraq."

Ahmadinejad told leaders that the world powers on the Security Council had politicized Tehran's nuclear program, making military threats and imposing sanctions against the country as they demanded it suspend uranium enrichment.

He said the nuclear issue was now "closed" as a political issue and Iran would pursue the monitoring of its nuclear program "through its appropriate legal path," the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The US delegation walked out of the General Assembly chamber when Ahmadinejad went to the podium, leaving only a low-ranking note-taker to listen to his speech, which also accused the US and Israel of human rights violations. Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, said the US wanted "to send him a powerful message."

Ahmadinejad remained in the General Assembly for Bush's speech, but a UN diplomat said he pulled out his translation earpiece before Bush started to talk.

Iran has decided "to pursue the issue through its appropriate legal path ... and to disregard unlawful and political impositions by the arrogant powers," he said.

"Some powers sacrifice all human values including honesty, purity and trust for the advancement of their goals," he said. "They lie openly, level baseless charges against others, act contrary to legal norms and damage the climate of trust and friendship."

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