Ahmadinejad's 9/11 outburst sparks US walkout

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has told the UN that most people believe the US government was responsible for 9/11.

The US delegation walked out in protest after the Iranian President's bizarre address to the UN General Assembly.

Mr Ahmadinejad said it was mostly US government officials who believed a terrorist group was behind the suicide hijacking attacks on September 11, 2001, that brought down New York's World Trade Center and hit the Pentagon.

Another theory, he said, was "that some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy, and its grips on the Middle East, in order to save the Zionist regime".

"The majority of the American people as well as most nations and politicians around the world agree with this view," Ahmadinejad told the 192-nation assembly.

The US and several European delegations left shortly after Ahmadinejad made the remarks.