NEW YORK — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that "the future belongs to Iran," and challenged the United States to accept that his country has a major role in the world.
The comments came in an hour-long interview Sunday with The Associated Press on the first day of his visit to the United States to attend the annual General Assembly of the United Nations this week.
He insisted that his government does not want an atomic bomb — something he has said in the past — and that Iran is only seeking peace and a nuclear-weapons-free world.