The Iranian president, who at the U.N. last year called for an investigation of so-called “hidden elements” of the 2001 attacks, suggested Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces last May to foreclose an inquiry.

“Instead of assigning a fact-finding team, they killed the main perpetrator and threw his body into the sea," he said. "Would it not have been reasonable to bring to justice and try openly the main perpetrator of the incidents in order to identify the elements and reason behind the safe-space provided for the invading aircraft to attack the twin world trade towers?

The Iranian president, who did not mention Israel by name, said Western leaders treat Zionism as a sacred notion, and said any question about the Jewish state’s founding and history is seen as an unforgivable offense.

Reacting to the speech, the spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. said Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people's aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories.

In a

New York Times

interview Thursday, Ahmadinejad again denied his country has nuclear weapons ambitions, and said it would halt uranium enrichment if world powers provided the 20-percent enriched uranium he said Iran needs for domestic power production.

The European Union said Wednesday it was prepared to resume without pre-conditions the nuclear talks with Iran that broke down in January. The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has failed to provide sufficient evidence that its program is entirely peaceful.