A defiant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed yesterday to press ahead with Iran’s nuclear programme, telling the United Nations that he would not bow to pressure from “bullying countries” controlled by “Zionists murderers”.

The Iranian President’s vow came as news emerged that Russia had scuppered plans for talks on new sanctions on Iran in retaliation for US calls for sanctions over its military adventure in Georgia.

Britain, the United States, France, Germany, China and Russia had planned to hold talks tomorrow on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on drafting a new resolution on Iran, but American officials admitted that any discussions would be fruitless without Russian participation.

In a rambling speech punctuated by anti-Semitic bluster, an emboldened Mr Ahmadinejad vowed not to bow to “illegal demands” to halt Iran’s nuclear activities which he defended as the peaceful pursuit of civilian energy.

The day’s developments came as a devasting blow for international efforts, led by the US, to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. President Bush’s attempts to focus minds on the Iranian threat at the final general assembly of his presidency had already been overshadowed by deep concern over the state of the global economy. In a low-key farewell address Mr Bush urged the world body to get tough on Iran’s violations of the “noble pledge” enshrined in the UN Charter; a late embrace of multilateralism from a President long reviled in these hallways as a lone cowboy on the world stage.

The remarks prompted a thumbs down from a grinning Mr Ahmadinejad, who spent much of the address smiling and waving to other delegates. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, looked up startled to hear his country named alongside Syria and North Korea as another violator of the UN’s core values when it invaded Georgia last month.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s attendance has long provided the drama for the annual assembly, with thousands of people rallying outside the UN building last year to protest against his speech.

The Iranian leader found himself at the centre of controversy even before he arrived in New York after the Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was invited to address a Jewish-led anti-Ahmadinejad rally, prompting Hillary Clinton to pull out.

But even by his standards, this year’s appearance was extraordinary. The Iranian President successfully upstaged Mr Bush’s speech with a flurry of media interviews.

As last year both American and Israeli delegations staged a walk-out as he took to the stage to deliver his speech. “The great Iranian people will resist the bullying and has defended and will defend its rights,” he said.

A rambling religious treatise gave way to a series of startling attacks on Israel and Jews in general, blaming them for all the world’s ills. “The dignity, integrity and rights of American and European people are played with by a deceitful group of people called Zionists,” he said.

The global financial crisis was the fault of “a small number of acquisitive and evasive people” who had taken control of the whole world order, he said, but predicted that this would soon change.

“Today, the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse, and there is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters,” he said. He called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to turn its attentions to disarming the world’s legitimate nuclear powers.

Moments after his speech news emerged that Russia had rejected plans for a ministerial meeting over a new resolution on sanctions against Tehran. Iran has continued its nuclear programme in defiance of three previous rounds of sanctions but Russia said yesterday that it saw no need to seek further action, despite warnings from the IAEA that it no longer knew if Iran was hiding nuclear activities.

“We see no ‘fire alarm’ which would require us to put off other things in the extremely busy week of the UN General Assembly and meet in emergency on the Iranian nuclear problem,” Andrei Nesterenko, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said. American officials admitted that Russia’s withdrawal made any talks on resolutions fruitless, given its power of veto in the UN Security Council.

“They have made clear they are not willing to actively engage now,” a senior American official said. Last night Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, lambasted Mr Ahmadinejad’s speech. “I strongly condemn President Ahmadinejad’s outrageous remarks at the United Nations, and am disappointed that he had a platform to air his hateful and anti-Semitic views,” he said. “The threat from Iran’s nuclear programme is grave. Now is the time for Americans to unite on behalf of the strong sanctions that are needed to increase pressure on the Iranian regime.”

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