A'jad fires misguided missiles in UN screed.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton blasted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for trying to hide his country's alarming nuclear efforts by opening a UN conference yesterday with another anti-American rant.

"Iran will do whatever it can to divert attention away from its own record in an attempt to evade accountability," Clinton told delegates to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty parley.

Her call for the world to hold Iran accountable came hours after the Iranian president prompted a walkout by American and other Western diplomats by once again trying to paint the United States as the villain in the showdown over Tehran's nuclear obsession.

POINTS FINGER: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday blames the United States for tensions over Tehran's nuclear program.

Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

POINTS FINGER: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday blames the United States for tensions over Tehran's nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad, the only head of state attending the monthlong conference, began by denouncing the Obama administration's refusal to rule out the use of nuclear weapons.

"Regrettably, the government of the United States has not only used nuclear weapons but also continues to threaten to use such weapons against other countries, including Iran," he said.

He repeated his defense of Iran's nuclear program, saying Washington had not provided "even a single credible proof" that it is an atomic-bomb effort.

Clinton dismissed his remarks as the "same tired, false and sometimes wild accusations." And she offered new specifics:

* She said the Obama administration would disclose the number of weapons it holds in its nuclear arsenal, a closely guarded secret for more than a half-century. "Beginning today, the United States will make public the number of nuclear weapons in our stockpile and the number of weapons we have dismantled since 1991," she said. Later yesterday, the administration put the stockpile at 5,113.

* She also said the administration would seek Senate ratification of protocols to ban nuclear tests in the South Pacific and Africa.

* In addition, Clinton said the United States would contribute $50 million to a fund run by the UN nuclear watchdog that would assist developing countries with civilian nuclear programs for humanitarian purposes.

Ahmadinejad, whose previous New York visits prompted outrage, drew protests from various groups.

In a rally outside the United Nations, Hadi Ghameni, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, addressed Ahmadinejad: "Do not come here to tell us Iran is the freest country in the world. Innocent protesters have been sentenced to death based on no evidence whatsoever."