TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has proposed that the United Nations declare 2011 the Year of Nuclear Disarmament.

He made the remarks in an address at the annual UN General Assembly session in New York on Thursday.
Ahmadinejad also criticized the UN’s “unjust structure”, saying all the power is concentrated in the Security Council due to the right of veto, while the pillar of the United Nations, the General Assembly, is marginalized.
He also proposed that the right of veto be revoked, saying the General Assembly should be made the most important body in the United Nations.
Over the past few decades, at least one of the permanent members of the Security Council has been involved in conflicts, since “the veto advantage grants impunity for aggression and occupation,” the Iranian president said.
Contrary to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows member states to utilize nuclear technology for peaceful purposes while prohibiting the production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons, some permanent members of the Security Council have “equated nuclear energy with the atomic bomb, and have distanced this energy from the reach of most nations by establishing monopolies and pressuring the IAEA,” Ahmadinejad noted.
“Had Iran enjoyed veto privileges, would the Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency director general have taken the same position on the nuclear issue?” he asked.
Commenting on Iran’s nuclear program, Ahmadinejad stated that the Tehran declaration was a “hugely constructive step in confidence building efforts” that received an inappropriate response from certain Western powers.
On May 17, Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed a declaration, according to which Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
He also dismissed the sanctions that the UN Security Council has imposed on Iran over its nuclear program, saying the Islamic Republic will never bow to “illegally imposed pressure.”
However, he said the Tehran declaration is still on the table and Iran is always ready to conduct negotiations based on respect and justice.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian president criticized the U.S.-led wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, saying the U.S. government might have orchestrated the 9/11 attacks to justify its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
“It was said that some three thousand people were killed on September 11, for which we are all very saddened. Yet, up until now, in Afghanistan and Iraq, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions wounded and displaced, and the conflict is still going on and expanding,” the Iranian president stated.
The U.S. government claims, “A very powerful and complex terrorist group, able to successfully cross all layers of the American intelligence and security (apparatuses), carried out the attack,” he said.
However, Ahmadinejad noted that many people across the globe are skeptical about the U.S. version and believe, “Some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the decline in the U.S. economy and (strengthen) its grip on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.”
He called on the United Nations to establish an independent fact-finding committee to investigate the 9/11 attacks.
President Ahmadinejad also lambasted the Zionist regime for the occupation of the Palestinian territories, the siege of the Gaza Strip, and the relentless atrocities it commits against the Palestinian people.
“On a daily basis… houses are being destroyed over the heads of innocent women and children. People are deprived of water, food, and medicine in their own homeland. The Zionists have imposed five all-out wars on the neighboring countries and on the Palestinian people,” he added.
In addition, Ahmadinejad criticized certain Western powers for supporting the Zionist regime despite the fact that it “regularly threatens countries in the region” and admits that it has assassinated Palestinian political figures.
The Iranian president also censured the recent incident in which the Holy Quran was burned in the United States and called it an “ugly and inhumane act” that was committed to undermine the “truth and good judgment.”
However, he said, “The truth cannot be burned.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ahmadinejad also stated that the current world order, which is based on capitalism, is in decline.