Ahmadinejad's UN speech offensive

US President Barack Obama has described as "hateful" and "offensive" the claim by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that most people believe the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks.
Mr Obama was speaking exclusively to BBC Persian television, which broadcasts to Iran and Afghanistan.
Mr Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN General Assembly on Thursday triggered a walkout.
He later defended his remarks and called for an inquiry into the attacks.
"I did not pass judgment, but don't you feel that the time has come to have a fact-finding committee?" Mr Ahmadinejad told reporters on Friday.
"The fact-finding mission can shed light on who the perpetrators were, who is al-Qaeda... where does it exist? Who was it backed by and supported? All these should come to light." In his speech at the UN, the Iranian leader suggested the US government could have "orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy, and its grips on the Middle East, in order to save the Zionist regime". Mr Ahmadinejad usually refers to Israel as the "Zionist regime".
Mr Obama said it was inexcusable to make such remarks in New York itself, where most of the victims of 9/11 died.
But despite his condemnation, the US president reaffirmed America's commitment to reach out to the people of Iran, who he said had a very different response to 9/11.
"There were candlelight vigils and I think a natural sense of shared humanity and sympathy was expressed within Iran," Mr Obama told the BBC. "It just shows once again the difference between how the Iranian leadership and this regime operates and how I think the vast majority of the Iranian people, who are respectful and thoughtful, think about these issues."
This was in stark contrast to Mr Ahmadinejad's comments at the UN, the US president said.