`` must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans . '' `` Well , I 'm amazed , '' he said , surprised by the question . `` How can you speak for the whole of the American nation ? The American nation is made up of 300 million people . There are different points of view over there . '' More than 2,700 people died in the attack on the World Trade Center , when al Qaeda terrorists flew hijacked passenger jets into the twin towers . A third jet hit the Pentagon , and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers resisted their hijackers . Iran is ruled by a Shiite Muslim government hostile to the fundamentalist Sunni al Qaeda . Ahmadinejad 's predecessor , Mohammed Khatami , condemned the attacks and cooperated with the U.S.-led campaign to topple al Qaeda 's Taliban allies in Afghanistan that followed . But the United States calls Iran the world 's top state sponsor of terrorism because of its support of the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah and other militant groups . Washington and Tehran have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980
NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that he wo n't push to visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Center during his visit to the United Nations next week . Iran 's president said he wanted to `` pay his respects '' and lay a wreath at the site of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks . The controversial leader asked to `` pay his respects '' and lay a wreath at the site of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks , but New York city officials on Wednesday denied that request , citing safety concerns at what is now a construction site . Ahmadinejad said he would try to visit the site `` if we have the time and the conditions are conducive . '' But if local officials can not make the proper arrangements , `` I wo n't insist , '' he said in an interview to be aired Sunday on CBS ' `` 60 Minutes . '' The Bush administration considers Iran a state sponsor of terrorism , and State Department spokesman Tom Casey called the request `` the height of hypocrisy . '' CBS correspondent Scott Pelley told Ahmadinejad he