Ahmadinejad Blasts 'Hegemony of Arrogance'

The US and Israel boycotted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN today, but it was actually a fairly low-key offering by the Iranian president's standards. In what will likely be his last speech before the general assembly, Ahmadinejad blamed the "current abysmal situation of the world" on a "hegemony of arrogance," saying powerful countries have "entrusted themselves to the devil," Fox News reports. And as usual he took a swipe at Israel, bemoaning the threats of military action against Iran from "the uncivilized Zionists."

But the speech was generally free of Holocaust denial, 9/11 conspiracy theories, and the other inflammatory comments that have often typified Ahmadinejad's addresses. The Iranian leader has, however, caused plenty of outrage in prior interviews during his stay in New York, and protesters gathered outside the UN while he spoke. "Over the past couple of days, we've seen Mr. Ahmadinejad once again use his trip to the UN ... to spout paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel,” a US spokesperson said. (More Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stories.)