Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has left Tehran for the United States to attend the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Press TV reported.
President Ahmadinejad arrived in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on the first part of his three-pronged tour on Saturday and was officially welcomed by his counterpart, Basher al-Assad, IRNA reported.
After his Syria visit, the president will have a stop-over in Algeria before flying to the US to attend the UN General Assembly.
Ahmadinejad told reporters before his departure that he would discuss developments in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine with his Syrian and Algerian counterparts.
He said that Iran maintains cordial relations with Syria and Algeria and the three countries regularly confer with each other on regional and international issues.
The president said that while in the United States, he would also take part in the Millennium Development Goals summit to be attended by 140 heads of state.
He will also hold talks with officials from various countries.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, senior presidential advisor Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi and head of the presidential office, Esfandiyar Rahim-Mashaei, are among the team accompanying the president in his tour.