NYPD refuses Iran request to lay wreath at ground zero

IRAN’S president has asked permission to lay a wreath at ground zero, but New York police say his request has been denied.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to arrive in the city Sunday to address the UN General Assembly. An NYPD spokesman says the request to visit the fenced-in World Trade Centre site was rejected because the site is under construction.

“The site is closed to visitors because of construction there,” police spokesman Paul Browne said in a statement. “Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would also be opposed by the NYPD on security grounds.”

Police said they were unsure why Ahmadinejad wanted to visit.

The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, says Iran can demonstrate its concerns about terrorism “by taking concrete actions,” such as ending Tehran’s support of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and suspending its uranium enrichment programme.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the UN says Ahmadinejad wanted to “pay tribute to the victims” of 9/11 and called the decision unfortunate.

Ahmadinejad, who regularly accuses the United States of arrogance in his speeches, had asked to visit the site while in New York.