In his debut address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Masoud Pezeshkian said that he wants Iran to play a “constructive role in the evolving global order.” He also signaled willingness to engage with Western powers on reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement, which curbed Iran’s controversial program in exchange for sanctions relief. “If the deal’s commitments are implemented fully and in good faith, dialogue on other issues can follow,” he told world leaders on Sept. 24, 2024. The United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions.
Pezeshkian, a reformist who took office in July, used less bellicose language toward the United States and the West than his predecessor, the late President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner who died in a helicopter accident in May. In an unusual move, Pezeshkian directly addressed the American people during his speech. He outlined several grievances, including the U.S. assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and the imposition of biting sanctions. “The appropriate response to this message from Iran is not to impose more sanctions, but to fulfill existing obligations to remove sanctions, benefiting the Iranian people and hence laying the foundations for more constructive agreements,” he said.
Pezeshkian, like previous presidents, condemned Israeli treatment of Palestinians. He accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “state terrorism” in Lebanon. “It is imperative that the international community should immediately stop the violence and bring about a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and bring an end to the desperate barbarism of Israel in Lebanon, before it engulfs the region and the world.” For decades, Iran has armed, trained and funded Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
President Joe Biden, who addressed the United Nations earlier in the day, pledged to continue working on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal and try to prevent a regional war from breaking out. He implied that Iran was responsible for exacerbating tensions. “Progress toward peace will put us in a stronger position to deal with the ongoing threat posed by Iran,” he contended. “Together, we must deny oxygen to terrorists — to its terrorist proxies, which have called for more October 7ths, and ensure that Iran will never, ever obtain a nuclear weapon.” The following are excerpted remarks from Pezeshkian’s U.N. address and other events in New York.
Excerpts from U.N. address on Sept. 24, 2024
On the United States: “Here, I want to address the American people: It is not Iran that has established military bases along your borders. It is not Iran that has imposed sanctions on your country and obstructed your trade relations with the world. It is not Iran that prevents you from accessing medicine. It is not Iran that has restricted your access to the global banking and financial system.
“It is not we who have targeted your military leaders; rather, it is the United States that assassinated Iran's most revered military commander at Baghdad airport.
“My message to all states pursuing a counterproductive strategy towards Iran is to learn from history. We have the opportunity to transcend these limitations and enter a new era. This era will commence with the acknowledgment of Iran's security concerns and cooperation on mutual challenges.”
“Sanctions are destructive and inhumane weapons designed to cripple a nation's economy. The deprivation of access to essential medications is one of the most painful consequences of sanctions, endangering the lives of thousands of innocent people. This measure is not only a blatant violation of human rights but also constitutes a crime against humanity.
“Our nation has demonstrated resilience in the face of numerous hardships caused by sanctions over the years. Although the wounds inflicted by these sanctions are deep within our society, confronting this biter experience has transformed us into a stronger nation, with unwavering resolve and self-confidence.
“In order to build a better future world, Iran stands prepared to foster meaningful economic, social, political, and security partnerships with global powers and its neighbors based on equal footing.
“The appropriate response to this message from Iran is not to impose more sanctions, but to fulfil existing obligations to remove sanctions, benefiting the Iranian people and hence laying the foundations for more constructive agreements. I hope that this message from Iran is carefully heard.”
On a new order in the Middle East: “Examine the contemporary history of the region: Iran has never initiated a war; it has only defended itself heroically against external aggression, causing the aggressors to regret their actions.
“Iran has never occupied the territory of any nation. It has not sought the resources of any country. It has repeatedly offered various proposals to its neighbors and international fora aimed at establishing lasting peace and stability.
“We have emphasized the importance of unity in the region, and establishing a ‘strong region.’ A ‘strong region’ rests on several fundamental principles:
“First, we must recognize that we are neighbors and, because of this bond, we will always remain together. The presence of foreign powers in our region is temporary and leads to instability. Our development and progress are interconnected, and outsourcing security to extra-regional powers will not benefit any of us.
“Second, the new regional order must be inclusive and beneficial for all neighbors. An order that fails to safeguard the interests of each neighboring country cannot be sustained.
“Third, neighboring and brotherly countries should not waste their valuable resources on attritional rivalries and arms races. Our region suffers from war, sectarian tensions, terrorism and extremism, drug trafficking, water scarcity, refugee crises, environmental degradation, and foreign interventions. We can collectively address these common challenges for a better future for coming generations.”
On the 2015 nuclear deal: “Iran and global powers achieved a historic nuclear deal in 2015 through that fresh outlook, based on shared opportunities. Iran agreed to the highest, unprecedented level of nuclear oversight in return for recognition of our rights and the lifting of sanctions within the framework of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from that agreement manifested a threat-ridden approach in politics and a coercion-driven strategy in the economic domain.”
“Unilateral sanctions target innocent people and seek to undermine the foundations of the Iranian economy. The goal is to securitize Iran; which instead leads to insecurity for all. The policy of the U.S.’ so-called ‘maximum pressure’ was in fact implemented against the Iranian people when Iran was fulfilling all its obligations under the JCPOA, as was verified repeatedly by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).”
“We are ready to engage with JCPOA Participants. If JCPOA commitments are implemented fully and in good faith, dialogue on other issues can follow.”
On Israel and the war in Gaza: “We have been siding with the people across the world, who have flooded the streets in outrage against Israeli atrocities; we condemn Israeli crimes against humanity.
“It is imperative that the international community should immediately stop the violence and bring about a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and bring an end to the desperate barbarism of Israel in Lebanon, before it engulfs the region and the world.
“Israel has been defeated in Gaza and no amount of barbaric violence can restore its myth of invincibility. Naturally, blind Israeli state terrorism over the past few days in Lebanon followed by a massive aggression with thousands of victims cannot go unanswered. The responsibility for all consequences will be born by those who have thwarted all global efforts to end this horrific catastrophe and have the audacity to call themselves champions of human rights.”
“The only path to end this 70 years old nightmare in West Asia and the world is to restore the right of all Palestinians to self-determination. We propose that all the people of Palestine—both those who live in their motherland as well as those who have been forced into its diaspora—determine their future in a referendum. We are confident that through this mechanism we can achieve a lasting peace, with Muslims, Christians and Jews living alongside one another in one land in tranquility and peace, and away from racism and apartheid.”
On Ukraine and Russia: “We seek lasting peace and security for the people of Ukraine and Russia. The Islamic Republic of Iran opposes war and emphasizes the urgent need to end military hostilities in Ukraine. We support all peaceful solutions and believe that dialogue is the only way to resolve this crisis.”
Interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sept. 24, 2024
“Now, what Hezbollah will do now? What can Hezbollah do in the face of aerial bombardments? They were forced to defend themselves. But the danger does exist that the fire of events that are taking place there will expand to the entire region, and this can be dangerous for the future of the world and planet Earth itself. So we must prevent the ongoing criminal acts being committed by Israel. And this is unacceptable.”
“Hezbollah by herself cannot stand against the country that is armed to the teeth and has access to weapon systems that are far superior to anything else. Now, if there is a need, Islamic countries must convene a meeting in order to formulate a reaction to what is occurring. Now, if we're speaking of Hezbollah alone, what can Hezbollah do alone?
“The regional countries, Islamic countries, must sit together, and prior to anything more severe taking place, I do believe that international organizations today, we did have a meeting with at the United Nations, with Mr. Guterres, and tomorrow, we will see such discussions and topics taking place. And we must not allow for Lebanon to become another Gaza at the hands of Israel. Hezbollah cannot do that alone. Hezbollah cannot stand alone against the country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, European countries, and the United States of America.”
Excerpted remarks to journalists on Sept. 23, 2024
On Israel and the war in Gaza: “We know more than anyone else, that if a war, a larger war, erupts in the Middle East, it will not benefit anyone. It will not benefit anyone throughout the world. It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict and create more destabilization and insecurity. Israel should accept international frameworks and international agreements. What international laws and frameworks agree for the bombardment of children, of hospitals, to forbid the safe passage of humanitarian and food supplies?”
“Gaza is the story of the largest, most populated, most densely populated per square kilometer, open-air prison in the world -- poverty, disease, famine, malnutrition, lack of hope, lack of employment opportunities. If you keep human beings in such conditions, what do you expect that will come out of it? To show no reaction? Put yourselves in their shoes for one moment only. What would you do?”
“We are willing to put all of our weapons aside, so long as Israel is willing to do the same. International organizations or coalitions can come to the region and provide security, which is really not necessary because we're fully capable to defend ourselves. But we cannot have outside actors come in, arm one side to the teeth, and prevent the other side from having the means to defend herself. Within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, we have lived to every single commitment, verifiably so. Israel has nuclear weapons, stocks nuclear weapons, yet no international organization utters a single word and then, whenever they wish, they threaten us with nuclear capabilities, saying that we're going to hit you with our nuclear weapon. This is humanity? This is proper comportment? This is what the world stands for? Let's come together to bring peace and stability throughout the world.”
On Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: “He was our official guest the day of my inauguration as the new president. And they came into our capital city in order to expand the conflict and create a larger war in the Middle East. They came in and martyred Ismail Haniyeh. We tried, we tried to not respond. They kept telling us we are within reach of peace, perhaps in a week or so, they kept telling us, we never reached that elusive peace.”
“And on the first day, when on the day of inauguration of my administration, that's when Israel committed that crime. It is condemnable under all international laws. It will not go unanswered. It will not remain unanswered. But we do not wish to be the causes of instability in the region. There is no winner in warfare. Everyone loses on all sides in warfare and conflict. So if we think that we're going to be victorious out of a regional war, we are only deluding ourselves…”
“We will give our answer at the appropriate time, at the appropriate place. Now, I hope that the world does not seek to drag us to a point where we are forced to show a behavior or a reaction that is not worthy of us.”
On alleged Iranian involvement in the October 7 attack: “You say that Iran was surprised. The Americans know much better than we do that Iran was unaware. The Israelis are very well aware that Iran was not aware. And with Israel so-perceived and -called intelligence reach, what occurred within its literal borders, and Israel was surprised, and Israel's intelligence apparatus was unaware. In its history, [Israel] had not suffered such a blow.”
On Hezbollah and Lebanon: “Well, Hezbollah fired a rocket. If Hezbollah didn't even do this minimum, who would defend them? The reality is that they told us that within a week, that we're going to reach some sort of an agreement with Israel. But unfortunately, that week has never come, and Israel keeps expanding on their illegal activities and killings in the region, and interestingly enough, we keep being labeled as the perpetrators of insecurity.
“Hezbollah, or any other group that wishes to defend her rights, we defend them. We defend righteousness. It isn't Hezbollah that has started the war. Israel is hitting them, targeting them on a daily basis, indiscriminately.”
On the Houthis in Yemen: “And as far as international shipping routes or the Houthis in Yemen, you do know that ideological issues take precedent for most people. It's not that we can subject any group or anyone to our will. It's not that the Yemenis are sitting there waiting for us to tell them do this or don't do this, and they would adhere to what we say, even in our countries, based on certain ideologies people are set against us domestically.
On Iran’s nuclear program and the 2015 deal: “We lived up to every commitment that we had made within that framework. It was Trump that came and tore up the nuclear accord. For we were continuing that progress and that commitment for over a year, and instead of living up to their commitments, unfortunately, they started putting on more and more sanctions, almost on a daily basis. Now you tell me, by worsening the situation and implementing more sanctions, you cannot bring folks to the table of negotiations, what they did with us was illegal, was unfair and unjust. It was not right.”
“We do not seek, we were not, are not, will not seek nuclear weapons, even based on our belief, based on the fatwa issued by the supreme leadership, weapons of mass destructions occupy no place within the military or nuclear doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran. But they came and tried to show us, in a light that, as though we're going towards a nuclear weaponization capability, which was obvious that we were not seeking, because there was the greatest number of inspections, open inspections, unfettered inspection within every nuclear facility in Iran.
“So if we were not seeking what we had committed to, we would not have allowed them to have such unfettered access. So we're not seeking to destabilize the region. So our problem is not us leaving the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), because that's not what happened. We are still ready to live up to the same framework that we had agreed to. We do not wish to do anything else other than the framework of the Accord reached. But it not does not make sense for us to remain committed, but the other part is including the Europeans not living up to their side of the bargain, and then coming to the table trying to get us to sign a different accord. Let's go back to step one. Let's make sure that you live up to your commitments, to your original commitments, and then we can go on to a different or next step.”
“Vis-à-vis the JCPOA and uranium enrichment, we said 100 times that we are willing to live up to our commitments. How else do we need to show that, other than having proven that we lived up to every single commitment? Where else in the world has a major non-proliferation agreement received as much scrutiny as the JCPOA has, unfettered access as the JCPOA gave. So, they verified that dozens and dozens of times. They are dragging us to a point that we do not wish to go to. This is not what we seek, and I do hope that we can sit at the table of discussion, reach an agreement, and create peace and stability and security throughout the region and the world.”
On Ukraine and Russia: “We do not seek war in the Ukraine either. And up to now, to the point that I've been able to follow through since I've taken office, we have not, and we will not supply them with any ballistic missiles. And on other issues, we are willing to sit down with the Europeans and the Americans and have a dialog and negotiations. We have not approved Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory. We have never approved it. The borders of any and every country are to be respected. However, the lines of dialog in Ukraine must be established in the same fashion that they take place for other countries throughout the world. What can be resolved through dialog cannot be resolved through killing. We sit and take aim at each other after we have shed much blood, then we say, how about we negotiate now? This is not something that is acceptable to us.”
Iran’s human rights record: “Vis-à-vis Miss Narges Mohammadi (an imprisoned human rights activist and Nobel laureate) and whomever else is in Iran, we are attempting to resolve our own internal problem by ourselves. From when I took responsibility for this administration, for this government, in this administration, there are four women occupying influential positions. There is a Sunni of Kurdish ethnic background, a member of the administration. And prior to coming to the U.N. General Assembly, we chose, and we appointed a regional governor of Kurdish descent as well, as well as someone of the Qashqai descent.”
“We will resolve our domestic issues. Of course, we're not going to be able to do it all at once, but slowly, one step at a time, we're moving forward. We're making progress. So instead of giving us opportunities to resolve our internal problems ourselves, they are coming up with new problems for us to be challenged with.
“If you are so heartbroken because of human rights and atrocities committed against humans, why are you not screaming at the top of your lungs as what has been occurring, almost for the past year in Gaza? They have blockaded the supply of food and humanitarian supplies. Is this more painful or the fact that maybe on one or two occasions, someone didn't receive perfectly legal treatment or unjust treatment? We are seeking to remedy those.”
On allegations that Iran is fomenting unrest in the United States: “They say that we pay student organizations to protest in the United States. We are having a hard time at times, making domestic payroll. How do we supply payroll to American students? So none of these American students have a conscience, have belief, are well informed? They just seek money? They're not freedom seekers, they're not free thinkers? They just want money? That's why they're taken to the streets?”
“In the United States of America, money is not that free to move around. If you want to deposit $100 to somebody's account, the entire world is going to know about it. It's going to leave electronic footprints all over the place. So how did we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and no one knows about it?”
On peace and Iran’s right to self-defense: “We wish to live with the rest of the world in security, stability and peace. We do not seek to destabilize anyone. We have come here in order to give our message to the people throughout the world at large.”
“Over the past 100 200 years, if you look at Iran's history, Iran never began any wars or conflicts, and during any conflict of war, they came and occupied our territory during the revolution, shortly after the revolution, Saddam Hussein, with all of its armed forces might, defended and supplied by the Europeans and the Soviets and the rest of the world at large, they were supplied heavily, and they subjected us to bombardments and all kinds of chemical weapons attacks. If today we seek to have domestic production of certain standard weapons, is for us to be able to defend ourselves. We cannot have others disregard our country's security needs. We never attacked any country.”
“We are willing to have dialog. We're willing to have peace. We do not want to fight. We do not want war. In what other language do we need to express this to everyone? We just want to let everyone know and make everyone understand that we want to live in peace. We want to have access to food supplies. We want to have access to international trade and medications and technologies.
“Are we the ones that have created obstacles in the channels of international trade and supply of supplies of essential goods? Now, if we close all imaginable avenues on any human beings, what kind of reaction do we expect from them? Of course, someone who is alive will stand in the face of oppression and tyranny and not accept it. We're not supposed to bow down. We're not supposed to come to our knees in the face of the oppression and injustice that these folks are perpetrating. We are human beings like everyone else. We live in a world in which today's slogan and principles are peace and security, but those who keep claiming the ownership of these words and principles are the ones creating insecurity and instability we are willing anywhere at any time, within the framework of international laws, so long as our rights are respected, like the rights of any other people, we do not have any issues or conflicts with anyone.”