Yesterday, just hours after President Obama offered to continue negotiation with Iran from the same podium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went full on "9-11 Truther," crazy-ass conspiracy theorist during his United Nations General Assembly speech. Following a similar path to his "questions" about whether the Holocaust really happened, Ahmadinejad claimed "most" people believe the United States government was behind the September 11th attacks, and it all might have been the work of the "Zionist Regime." (aka Israel or "The Joos")
This led the U.S. delegation to walk out of the Iranian President's speech, along with the delegations of all 27 European Union nations, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Costa Rica.
President Obama just responded in an interview with BBC Persian (which broadcasts to Iran), condemning the speech as "inexcusable."
Immediately following Ahmadinejad's speech, the United States delegation released the following statement:
"Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people, Mr Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable."
Today, President Obama decided to respond as well.
From the Associated Press:
President Barack Obama on Friday condemned as "offensive" and "hateful" the suggestion of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the 9-11 attacks might have been orchestrated by the U.S. government.
The president's remarks in an interview with BBC Persian Television came a day after the Iranian leader included the incendiary comment in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. It prompted a walkout by the U.S. delegation and others.
"For him to make a statement like that was inexcusable," Obama told BBC Persian Television in an interview at his New York hotel. "It was offensive. It was hateful. And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of Ground Zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation."
From BBC News:
Despite his condemnation of the Iranian president's remarks, Mr Obama 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."