Iranian Leader Seeks 'New World Order'

(Newsroom America) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday it was time for a global power shift to a "new world order" that deemphasized what he described as U.S. bullying and domination.

In an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, which will be his last as president of Iran, Ahmadinejad - who was to address the world body Wednesday - also discussed potential solutions to Syria's ongoing civil war, and dismissed accusations that his country is attempting to build nuclear weapons.

"God willing, a new order will come together and we'll do away with everything that distances us," he said through a translator. "I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it."

"Now even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying," he added, AP reported.

The Iranian leader said that despite heavy sanctions being placed on his country by the United States and the West over it's suspected atomic weapons program, that Iran is better off now than when he took office in 2005.

Since then, he claimed Iran has gone from the world's 22nd largest economy to the 17th largest; that per capita income has increased $4,000; non-petroleum related exports increased sevenfold; and the basic production of goods has more than doubled.

Regarding Syria, Ahmadinejad said he hoped a so-called 10- or 11-member contract group would manage to get Syrian President Bashar Assad and opposition groups to sit across from each other.

"I will do everything in my power to create stability, peace and understanding in Syria," he said.

He also denied Iranian involvement in plotting attacks against Israelis around the world, despite arrests and accusations by police in other countries, the AP said.

And he vehemently denied U.S. accusations that Iranian agents were involved in a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States last year.

© 2012 Newsroom America.

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