Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States on Tuesday of using the attacks of September 11, 2001 as a "pretext" to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. "On the pretext of this incident a major military operation was launched and oppressed Afghanistan was attacked. Tens of thousands of people have been killed until now," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.
"Poor Iraq was attacked. According to official figures... one million people have been killed."
He also appeared to cast doubt on the official version of the events of September 11, saying that the names of those killed in the attacks had "never been published".
He also asked how it was possible that advanced radar and intelligence systems did not detect the planes before they hit the towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.