'It's time to isolate those who made hatred of the US a political principle'

US President Barack Obama accused Iran of helping to keep a dicatorship in power in Syria and said it was time to isolate those who made hatred of the United States, Israel or the West their central political principle.

"Just as it restricts the rights of its own people, the Iranian government props up a dictator in Damascus and supports terrorist groups abroad," Obama told the UN General Assembly in a reference to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We again declare that the regime of Bashar al-Assad must come to an end so that the suffering of the Syrian people can stop, and a new dawn can begin."