Ahmadinejad: US has 'dragged the world in mud'

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

TEHRAN - Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a vitriolic tirade against the United States

Usual rhetoric

Iranian President casts fresh doubt on September 11 attacks during his renewed vitriolic tirade against US, Israel.

and Israel on Sunday as he cast fresh doubt on the September 11 attacks, state media reported.

"They have such nerve to threaten us and say all options are on the table. May the undertaker take you, your tables... away as you have dragged the world in mud," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a speech.

The United States and Israel accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and have never ruled out a military strike to curb Tehran's atomic drive. Iran maintains its atomic programme has peaceful aims.

"We have hundreds of unanswered questions about the September 11 incident to which they should respond, and we will not back down on this," Ahmadinejad said in the speech marking the start of a housing project outside Tehran.

"If they claim 3,000 people were killed on September 11, they (the perpetrators) should be identified and executed.

"We will even help in their arrest provided they present evidence, but will not accept whatever Bush and Obama say," he said referring to former US president George W. Bush and his successor Barack Obama.

"Even the Americans themselves do not accept these claims, let alone other nations."

Last month Ahmadinejad sparked outrage in the United States and around the world when he accused the US government of involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

Obama slammed the remarks as "hateful" and "offensive."

Ahmadinejad has already drawn international condemnation by repeatedly casting doubt on the Nazi Holocaust since coming to power in 2005.

On Sunday he branded Iran's arch-foe Israel a "savage dog unleashed in the region."