BBC News with Iain Purdon

President Obama has condemned as inexcusable comments by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, suggesting that the US government was behind the September 11th attacks. President Obama drew a contrast between Mr Ahmadinejad's remarks and the expressions of sympathy from ordinary Iranians at the time. Mr Obama was speaking in an interview with the BBC Persian service.

"It was offensive. It was hateful. And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of Ground Zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation. For him to make a statement like that was inexcusable."