Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced on Monday his regret for the denial by the New York City authority of his application to visit Ground Zero, the site of Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Addressing a Colombia University forum, Ahmadinejad said, " Regretfully, some groups had very strong reactions, very bad reactions. It's bad to prevent someone from showing sympathy to the families of the victims of the 9/11 event, a tragic event."
Ahmadinejad reportedly wants to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site during his stay in New York where he is to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
However, New York City authorities rejected his request after some American lawmakers and organizations opposed Ahmadinejad's visit.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday that it would have been a travesty for Ahmadinejad to visit the site.
"I think it would have been a travesty," Rice told cable TV channel CNBC in an interview. "This is somebody who is the president of a country that is probably the greatest sponsor -- state sponsor -- of terrorism."
The U.S. government first identified Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism in January 1984. In its annual report on world terrorism in April 2006, the U.S. State Department designated Iran as "the most active state sponsor of terrorism."
Source: Xinhua
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