Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he will seek leniency for three American hikers detained for illegally entering Iran.
PresidentAhmadinejad says no one can interfere in the Iranian judiciaryprocess. But he says he will ask that the judiciary expedite the caseand look at it with maximum lenience.
The hikers have been detained in Iran since July, when they went off course while trekking in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
The case has increased tensions with the United States.
Ina wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press Tuesday, the Iranianleader urged U.S. President Barack Obama to see Iran as a potentialfriend instead of a threat.
Both leaders will speak at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to boycott Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech.
The Iranian president does not recognize the Jewish state and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Germanysays its diplomats will walk out of the General Assembly on Wednesdayif President Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust during his speech.
The Iranian leader has repeatedly called the Nazi mass murder of Jews during World War II a lie.