Iran's Ahmadinejad denied visit to NY Trade Center

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been denied a request to visit the World Trade Center site of the Sept. 11 attacks, New York police said on Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad, who regularly accuses the United States of arrogance in his speeches, had asked to visit the site while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this month.

"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 mere notion of Ahmadinejad visiting drew fire from White House hopefuls on both sides of the political divide. Washington has long accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism.

"It is unacceptable for Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who refuses to renounce and end his own country's support of terrorism, to visit the site of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil in our nation's history," Democratic U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said in a statement.

Former Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also opposed any such visit.

"This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harboring Bin Laden's son and other al Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons," he said.

"Assisting Ahmadinejad in touring Ground Zero -- hallowed ground for all Americans -- is outrageous."

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, agreed with the police decision and accused Iran of supporting violent groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We do not support that the tragedy that happened on a site where so many people lost their lives be used as a photo op," Khalilzad told reporters.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, some Iranians held impromptu vigils in Tehran.

In 2002 U.S. President George W. Bush famously labeled Iran as part of an "axis of evil" that also included Iraq and North Korea. Since then Iran has defied western pressure to suspend its nuclear program.

Officials at the Iran mission to the United Nations were not immediately available for comment.

(Additional reporting by Evelyn Leopold)