TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's hard-line president is again casting doubt on reports of the September 11th attacks on the U.S.

In a speech on Iranian television, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) discussed what he calls a "suspicious event" involving a building collapse in New York. Among other things, he said 3,000 people were reported killed but that their names have never been published.

He calls the event a pretext used to attack Afghanistan and Iraq.

It's the third time in a week the Iranian leader has questioned the death toll, who was behind the attacks and how they happened.

In Washington, the State Department called the remarks another example of "misguided" rhetoric from Iran's leader. On the September 11th anniversary, the names of those killed in New York are read aloud at a memorial ceremony.