His hard-line speech offered no hint of willingness to comply with UN demands that Tehran suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to produce fuel for power stations or bombs.

"The abuse of the Security Council, as an instrument of threat and coercion, is indeed a source of grave concern," Ahmadinejad told the U.N. General Assembly, the news agency said.

Iran’s atomic activities are "transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eyes of IAEA inspectors," he insisted, referring to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Earlier, President George Bush accused Iran’s rulers of spending their resources on funding terrorists and pursuing nuclear weapons and demanded Iran abandon what he called "its nuclear weapons ambitions," Reuters quoted Bush as saying.

Ahmadinejad said the United States, Britain and others themselves benefited from nuclear energy and the fuel cycle, Reuters said.