NEW YORK (CNN) -- City officials in New York have denied Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's request to visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Center next week, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked to visit ground zero, but New York city officials said no.

The controversial, outspoken president wanted to "pay his respects" and lay a wreath at the site of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks during his visit to the U.N. General Assembly, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, citing Iranian officials.

But workers are rebuilding the foundations of the site, "and it would not be possible for him to go where other people don't go," Kelly told CNN.

Iranian officials have not put in any additional requests to visit the public platforms at ground zero, police spokesman Paul Browne told CNN. But, he said, "If there were a further request, we'd reject it" because of security fears.

The Iranian mission to the U.N. said it had not been told of the decision, but in a statement issued Wednesday evening, it called the rejection "unfortunate."

Iran is ruled by a Shiite Muslim government hostile to the fundamentalist Sunni al Qaeda.

Ahmadinejad's predecessor at the time of the September 11 attacks, Mohammed Khatami, condemned them, and Tehran cooperated with the U.S.-led campaign to topple al Qaeda's Taliban allies in Afghanistan that followed.

The United States and Iran have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980 after Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and held Americans hostage for 444 days.

The United States considers Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and has accused the country of meddling in Iraq and in Afghanistan where U.S. troops are battling Taliban and al Qaeda remnants more than six years after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

I'm interested on peoples opinion on this. I'm from the UK and the events that happened on September 11 filled me, and still do, with utter rage and disbelief of what happened.

I'm aware that George Bush considers the Iranians a terror threat, but I read this article today and thought, isn't it a good, positive gesture for the Iranian President to show his respects on with the world watching, isn't it a good thing to allow him to do? Or is the thought of him visiting ground zero just unthinkable.

What's your opinion on this?

Reg

It is completely wrong. It will make us (the US) seem like even bigger dicks than we are already. I cannot fathom why he was denied showing sympathy. I am ashamed.

Supposedly because of the ongoing construction. But the remembrance ceremony was an exception.

I feel the same way, but what I think people most question is his intentions at doing this. Is it true sympathy, to create a media circus, to make himself appear more democratic and understanding than he really is? Although we'll never know his true intentions, I believe the previous things I mentioned may have played a lot in the minds of those who made a decision to turn him down.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters Wednesday that the United States would not support Iran's attempt to use the site for a "photo op." - I can understand this as well.

Is it just me or is the title misleading? He hasn't been banned from the site, everyone has. Or am I reading it wrong?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is just using it as a PR stunt, hes playing mind games, trying to change americas public opinion of Iran, remember when they seized the UK's personnel from Iraqi waters and how he gave them all new suits and gifts? its all about him and no-one else, the American government has done the right thing by refusing, i dont even think he'll trun up at the UN meeting,

Actually other news sources have a similar title.

clicky

Good. I'm glad he was banned from Ground Zero. Good for them.

I wonder he'll rant about it in his country.

I don't blame them for banning him.

Edit: If he wants to visit the site. He can use the internet & go to the web cams.

I'd overlook the M.A. tricks and let him visit. We are one, no matter the apparent ills we impose upon ourselves.

Well if others can't go there...security risk...then it should apply to all, no matter who you are. If he wants to pay his respects, he can present his condolences and wreath at the UN.

Good point, Nativechick. M.A. is tricking himself in thinking that a trip to New York constitutes a departure from where he presently resides, which is within himself. If he wishes to feel sorrow for the people who lost their lives in '01, he can easily do so within his own imagination.

No matter how you see this, it is simply not news and the headline slightly out of line. He did not get "banned" and the request was not honored, not because he is the Iranian prez but because nobody except workers are allowed on Ground Zero....

Maybe I should have put that his request was denied.

Found more info on CNN.

"It is appalling that President Ahmadinejad, one of the world's leading sponsors of terror, would find it appropriate to visit this hallowed ground," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

Several presidential candidates also condemned the requested visit. Hillary Clinton, the New York senator and Democratic front-runner, called the request "unacceptable." Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a leading Republican, called it "shockingly audacious."

And former Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- whose leadership after the attacks is the cornerstone of his GOP presidential bid -- said that "under no circumstances" should Ahmadinejad be allowed to visit the World Trade Center site.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the site should not be "used as a photo op."

I will rely upon the fictitiousness of the physical universe as my defense against self-incrimination for commenting upon a news article that would be inherently fictitious no matter how it had been composed.

Which leads us to the transcendental qualities of mosquito's love life on the left side of the Hudson River.....

Indeed. Well said, my friend.

I say they ban him from the country

If he truly wanted to pay respect, but not allowed at the construction site, he could easily go visit with the first responders and all the fire, police, and EMT men and women.