Sunday, September 18 2005 09:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

United Nations:: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied that he was involved in the seizure of United States (US) diplomats as hostages in 1979 and suggested his American accusers might have been brainwashed.

"I was not involved," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with CNN outside a session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. "I saw the picture they (the Americans) tried to impose, it didn't even resemble me."

Ahmadinejad was initially denied a visa to attend the UN meetings after a group of former hostages accused him of being one of the radicals behind the storming of the US embassy in Tehran.

Their allegations were largely based on a picture of a young, bearded Iranian resembling Ahmadinejad who was photographed standing next to some of the 52 US hostages who were held for 444 days.

Ahmadinejad, a 46-year-old former commando, said he heard the accusation after he was elected President in June and "quite frankly, I laughed at it."

"Either their (the former hostages') memories have been erased and then replaced anew, I don't know how they reached to such a conclusion," the hardline Iranian said. "Back then I didn't have the beard that I do now."

Ahmadinejad hit back at US officials for spreading the allegation, which he called an attempt to discredit him after his shock win in the runoff for the Iranian Presidency.