Romney calls on UN to disinvite Iran's leader

If Mitt Romney had his way, Iran's president, instead of being welcomed by the United Nations, would be served with an indictment for war crimes.

Romney released a letter this morning urging UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to revoke an invitation for Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak to the General Assembly next week.

"The only way he should be greeted in the United States is with an indictment under the Genocide Convention," Romney wrote.

"The Iranian regime under President Ahmadinejad has spoken openly about wiping Israel off the map, has fueled Hezbollah's terror campaign in the region and around the world, and defied the world community in its pursuit of nuclear weapons – capabilities that make these threats even more ominous. As General Petraeus testified last week, Iran is also supporting Shia militia extremists and violence that is taking the lives of American soldiers and undermining the Iraqi government.

A failure by the United Nations to take a strong stand against Iran's President Ahmadinejad would be especially disturbing given the United Nations' record of failure to prevent genocide in other circumstances and the failure of the United Nations Human Rights Council to confront the Iranian regime and others among the world's worst human rights abusers."

If the UN doesn't comply, Romney said, the US should reconsider its financial support to the international body.

The US and Europe are trying to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program through negotiations, backed with sanctions.

The former Massachusetts governor is trying to burnish his bona fides on foreign policy, an area where his experience pales in comparison to Republican rivals like Senator John McCain of Arizona.