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UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- President Bush challenged world leaders to do more to build democracy in the Middle East in an address at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday.
Bush used a noontime speech to the General Assembly to ask U.N. members for help in fighting extremism in the Middle East.
"From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom," Bush told the General Assembly.
"And the nations gathered in this chamber must make a choice as well," he said. "Will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East, or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists?"
Following up on a speech he made last week on the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Bush said the "calling of our generation" is the fight between extremism and the "peaceful majority."
The American president cited electoral advances across the Mideast as proof that democracy is advancing in the region and said the lack of reform seen in the past decades fertilized extremism.
Bush said people who have hope for a future "are less likely to blow themselves up in suicide attacks" and asked Muslim nations to support democratic reforms in the Middle East.
He praised the people of Iraq for voting for a democratic government and vowed to stand behind the elected leaders in securing Iraq's future from "terrorists and extremists."
Afghanistan voters also drew his praise for establishing a free government that combats terrorists.
And peace between Palestinians and Israelis "is one of the great objectives of my presidency," Bush said, and he praised the commitments of both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Bush cited Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt as examples of countries providing the diplomatic and financial leadership needed to foster Mideast democracy.
And Bush said the United States respects the people of Iran and wants them to have leaders that allow them the freedom to pursue their dreams.
He said Iran must comply with U.N. demands on halting nuclear enrichment activities so Iran can benefit fully from what the rest of the world has to offer.
Among those in the audience was expected to be Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an acerbic critic of U.S. foreign policy who has previously challenged Bush to a debate. The two were not expected to talk directly.
"I'm sure both will have minders working hard to keep them apart," said U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown. "So probably, the great clash of the titans, the rumble of the jungle -- whatever you want to call it -- is not going to happen."
Ahmadinejad will address the assembly Tuesday evening.
After meeting with French President Jacques Chirac Tuesday morning, Bush warned Iran that "time is of the essence" for the country to avoid sanctions by complying with U.N. demands to stop uranium enrichment activities.
Uranium enrichment is key to producing nuclear weapons. The United States suspects Iran of using its nuclear program to develop weapons, while Tehran insists its program is only for peaceful purposes.
The U.N. Security Council had demanded that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment by August 31 or face the possibility of economic sanctions. Iran missed the deadline but said it would consider temporarily suspending its program as a condition for beginning talks with the United States.
In an interview before the U.N. visit, Time magazine asked Ahmadinejad if Iran would suspend enrichment "as a confidence-building measure."
"Whose confidence should be built?" the Iranian leader asked.
"The world? Who is the world? The United States? The U.S. administration is not the entire world," he said. "Europe does not account for one-twentieth of the entire world. When I studied the provisions of the NPT [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty], nowhere did I see it written that in order to produce nuclear fuel, we need to win the support or the confidence of the United States and some European countries."
In the Time interview, Ahmadinejad said that the Bush administration must "change its behavior, and then everything will be solved.
"It was the U.S. which broke up relations with us. We didn't take that position. And then they should make up for it," Ahmadinejad told Time.
Among the 27 world leaders speaking Tuesday, according to Reuters, are Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, French President Jacques Chirac, Mexican President Vicente Fox, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Jordanian King Abdullah II Bin al-Hussein and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
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