But he said he has no preference between the two.
"We believe that these are issues relating to the domestic affairs of the United States," Ahmadinejad told Larry King of the presidential race, according to a transcript of the interview.
"And decisions pertaining to that must be made by the American people. And it's not important to us either," Ahmadinejad said. "What matters essentially is that the president that is chosen by the American people should adopt a path and a policy approach and for us to observe the policy approach.
"This is the campaign period, anyone can say anything. So we disregard that. What matters is that once someone is in office, we have to watch and see if that person will bring about some changes in policy or continue the same old path."
was in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly meeting, which began Tuesday.
"I have said that, in fact, on this very trip, currently in New York, that I am ready to speak with the presidential candidates before the press," he told Larry King. "I believe that we've really done whatever we could do in this respect."
Asked whether he fears a U.S. attack, Ahmadinejad told King that attacking Iran would be the "worst thing the U.S. government can do ... I think that in the United States, there are enough reasonable people, smart people, who would not allow the U.S. government to make such a big mistake."
Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, meanwhile, would be "the best scenario," Ahmadinejad said. "But I think that it needs a timetable ... the presence of the United States there has not reduced tension and it has not limited terrorism either. In fact, it has increased terrorism."
On hostility between the United States and Iran, Ahmadinejad told King: "The hostility has not been from our end. Up to this day, we have always been interested in having friendly relations."
Iran, he said later, "throughout history ... has demonstrated that it is a nation that is for peace and friendly with others."
And he insisted Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, despite Western nations' concern to the contrary.
"Their concerns about us are not new," he told King of the West. "They've always been concerned. They were the ones who inspired Saddam [Hussein] to attack Iran and get us involved in an eight-year war. The terrorist groups that killed our president, our prime minister, our officials, are now freely asked to live in the Western countries."
The nuclear issue, he said, has been politicized and is not a legal struggle at all, noting the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog group, has "not detected any noncompliance or deviation" on the part of Tehran.
Ahmadinejad spoke extensively of Iran's support for Palestinians. The Iranian leader previously has made statements suggesting that Israel be politically "wiped off the map," though he insists that can be accomplished without violence. He has questioned the existence of the Holocaust, the genocidal Nazi campaign against European Jews, and warned Europeans that they may pay a heavy price for its support of Israel.
He insisted, however, that he and his country wish no harm to Jews.
"We have no problems with Jewish people," he said. "There are many Jews who live in Iran today ... but please pay attention to the fact that the Zionists are not Jews. They have no religion ... they just have -- wear masks of religiosity. How can you possibly be religious and occupy the land of other people?"
On the Holocaust, he said an impartial group should research whether it happened as has been claimed.
"There is a claim that the extent of the calamity was what it was," Ahmadinejad said. "There are people who agree with it. There are people who disagree."
Ahmadinejad has also caused controversy by previously suggesting there were no homosexuals in Iran. Regarding that statement, he told King: "I said it is not the way it is here. In Iran this is considered a very -- obviously, most people dislike it. And we have, actually, a law regarding it and the law is enforced."
However, he said, "we do pay attention that in Iran nobody interferes in the private lives of individuals. We have nothing to do with the private realm of people. This is at the -- non-private, public morality. In their own house, nobody ever interferes."