http://www.malagent.comIranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
asked permission to lay a
wreath at the World Trade
Center site when he comes to
New York City next week, but
the request was denied, a
police official said
Wednesday.The Iranian
president, who is arriving
Sunday to address the United
Nations' General Assembly, had<
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http://www.malagent.comIranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
asked permission to lay a
wreath at the World Trade
Center site when he comes to
New York City next week, but
the request was denied, a
police official said
Wednesday.The Iranian
president, who is arriving
Sunday to address the United
Nations' General Assembly, had
asked the police department,
the U.S. Secret Service and
the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey earlier this
month for permission to visit
the site of the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks,
police spokesman Paul Browne
said.The police and Secret
Service provide security to
visiting heads of state.The
request to enter the fenced-in
site was rejected because of
ongoing construction there,
Browne said. ``Requests for
the Iranian president to visit
the immediate area would also
be opposed by the NYPD on
security grounds,'' Browne
said.Police Commissioner
Raymond Kelly said earlier
Wednesday that the city was
considering Ahmadinejad's
request, but Browne said about
two hours later that Kelly had
misspoke.Kelly's comments
prompted outcry from
politicians and families of
Sept. 11 victims.The Port
Authority, which owns the
trade center site and is the
only agency that could grant
Ahmadinejad permission to go
inside, said it never received
such a request, contradicting
the police statement.``We have
not been asked to accommodate
the president of Iran,'' Port
Authority spokesman Steve
Coleman said Wednesday.It
wasn't clear whether
Ahmadinejad wanted to descend
to the base of the trade
center site, where the fallen
twin towers stood, or lay a
wreath on a public sidewalk
outside the site. Telephone
calls to the Iranian Mission
to the United Nations were not
immediately returned.Kelly
earlier said he did not know
why Ahmadinejad expressed
interest in the site. ``I am
not sure we have the rationale
behind it,'' he said.White
House spokesman Gordon
Johndroe said Wednesday that
an Ahmadinejad visit to ground
zero ``is a matter for the
city of New York, but it seems
more than odd that the
president of a country that is
a state sponsor of terror
would visit ground zero.''The
U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad,
told reporters Wednesday that
the United States would not
support Iran's attempt to use
the site for a ``photo
op.''``Iran can demonstrate
its seriousness about concern
with regard to terrorism by
taking concrete actions,''
such as dropping support for
Lebanese militant group
Hezbollah and suspending their
uranium enrichment program,
Khalilzad said.Iran and the
U.S. have not had diplomatic
relations since Washington cut
its ties with Tehran after
Iranian students stormed the
U.S. Embassy in Tehran in
1979. The Bush administration
has accused Iran of arming
Shiite Muslim militants in
Iraq and seeking to develop
nuclear weapons.In a
television appearance earlier
this week, Ahmadinejad said
his country wanted peace and
friendship with the United
States, despite mounting
tensions between the two
countries.

Category News & Politics

Tags Mahmoud, Ahmadinejad, 911, 9/11, ground, zero, iran, wtc, terrorist