The new academic year in Iran began Saturday morning with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ringing the bell at a boy’s elementary school in southern Tehran.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Saturday that the young generation shoulders a heavy responsibility of nation building and helping avert a world catastrophe.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a meeting with members of the non-government research institute of the US Council on Foreign Relations, briefed them on the improper relations dominating the world equations, particularly in the post-World War II era.