New York (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearances in New York this week are part of a shrewd strategy that is aimed at enhancing his standing in Iran and the Middle East, says analyst Fareed Zakaria. Ahmadinejad, who came to the United Nations for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, met with journalists and was interviewed on Larry King Live, where he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "skilled killer" and parried questions about his nation's nuclear program. "The reality about Iran is that it's a middle-rank power, a regional power, and if not for Ahmadinejad's outlandishness, it would not deserve as much attention as we're giving it," Zakaria said. "But we give it and him enormous attention and almost give Iran and Ahmadinejad free power."
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Iran president made annual trip to New York for U.N. General Assembly
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Fareed Zakaria says Ahmadinejad's tough remarks are part of a strategy
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He says media attention elevates his profile in Iran and the Middle East
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Zakaria: Iran is middle-rank power that gets more than its share of attention
United Nations
Fareed Zakaria: One of the annual traditions of the @placeholder week has become breakfast with Ahmadinejad.
Benjamin Netanyahu
Zakaria: He made some very inflammatory remarks about @placeholder, he called him a dictator, which is truly bizarre because he's a duly elected prime minister.
Iranian
Iran
Iran
Iran
Iran
Iran
Iran
It was almost as if he had got his back up on that and felt as though @placeholder had made enough concessions already.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
I think the biggest mistake we could make is to inflate the importance of @placeholder, to inflate the importance of Iran, inflate the importance of this issue.
Israeli
The reality is that @placeholder has a very strong nuclear deterrent, probably 200 to 250 nuclear weapons.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad
Seeing @placeholder once more made me feel that these are very savvy calculating characters, and time is not really on their side.