In an interview with the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine Wednesday, Ahmadinejad also said Iran would offer to purchase enriched uranium for medical purposes from the United States at talks with world powers on October 1.
"Why not just let them sit and talk and see what kind of capacity they can build? I think it is a good thing to happen," Ahmadinejad said of Iran's readiness to allow its nuclear experts to meet with international scientists.
A meeting of nuclear scientists, which Iran has not previously allowed, would be a historic first.
Ahmadinejad's overture came on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session that saw stepped up pressure on Iran to yield to international concerns that it is developing nuclear weapons.
Russia signaled it could back biting sanctions if Tehran fails to make concessions at the October 1 meeting with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
"Russia's position is simple: sanctions are seldom productive but they are sometimes inevitable. It is a matter of choice," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said after talks with US President Barack Obama.
In his eagerly-awaited maiden speech to the 192-member assembly, watched intently by Ahmadinejad, Obama warned that Tehran's and Pyongyang's nuclear push had put the world on a "dangerous slope."
"If the governments of Iran and North Korea choose to ignore international standards, if they put the pursuit of nuclear weapons ahead of regional stability and the security and opportunity of their own people... then they must be held accountable," he told some 120 world leaders.
Iran's suspect nuclear ambitions were increasingly under fire throughout the day Wednesday as world leaders warned it to halt its suspect uranium enrichment.
"Serious additional sanctions remain a possibility," Obama said after conferring with Medvedev, urging Tehran to "seize the opportunity" at next week's talks in Geneva.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown delivered a similar message, telling the assembly that both Iran and North Korea must comply with UN demands.
"Iran and North Korea must now know that the world will be even tougher on proliferation. We are ready to consider further sanctions," he said.
with six major powers scheduled for October 1.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy also warned Tehran against "making a tragic mistake" in pressing on with their suspect nuclear activities.
The warnings came a day before Obama was to chair an unprecedented summit on nuclear proliferation in the UN Security Council.
There was tough talk too from chief diplomats of the six major powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- which have been trying to clip Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The West suspects the Islamic republic is trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability, while Tehran says its program is purely to develop civilian nuclear energy.
And a speech to the assembly by Ahmadinejad which again attacked Israel triggered a walkout by a dozen delegations, including four of the six powers negotiating with Iran.
"It is disappointing that Mr Ahmadinejad has once again chosen to espouse hateful, offensive and anti-Semitic rhetoric," Mark Kornblau, spokesman to the US mission to the United Nations, said in a statement.
Delegations from Argentina, Britain, Australia, Costa Rica, Denmark, France Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and the United States left the room as Ahmadinejad began to rail against Israel.
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