Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered his first speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2005, a month after he took office as president of Iran. He set two precedents in his inaugural speech, which lasted 29 minutes: Asserting Iran's right to develop "peaceful" nuclear technology and ending with a prayer.
He accused America of deepening the divide between nuclear haves and have-nots.
Some powerful states practice a discriminatory approach against access of NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] members to material, equipment, and peaceful nuclear technology, and by doing so, intend to impose a nuclear apartheid.
Then he concluded his 3,500-word address with a prayer:
O mighty Lord, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.
Shortly after the speech, a senior Bush administration official told The New York Times: "This doesn't help Iran's case."
Read the full text of Ahmadinejad's 2005 speech to the General Assembly.
