Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s president, kicked off his trip to the United Nations and New York on Monday by denouncing protesters against his visit and discounting talk of war with the US.

His arrival was hailed by one US tabloid as “The Evil Has Landed”, and he was likened to a “petty and cruel dictator” by Lee Bollinger, Columbia University’s president, at a controversial speaking engagement at the university.