Iranian Foreign Minister: Defending People’s Just Cause Is Our First Task in New York

Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Iran’s delegation to this year’s United Nations General Assembly would focus primarily on presenting the country’s position to the international community and defending the rights and interests of the Iranian people following what he described as a cowardly act of aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime.

Speaking to reporters in New York on Monday night at the start of his visit for the 81st UN General Assembly session, Araghchi said the trip came after the war and subsequent developments, adding that the situation “continues, in truth, as a state of war.”

He said the primary objective was to secure a prominent international platform to defend the Iranian people’s rights, interests and cause.

The foreign minister called the United Nations the world’s largest international forum, while acknowledging that its success in achieving its stated goals of peace, security and justice remained a separate issue. For Tehran, he said, the organization continued to provide countries with a platform to present their positions to the international community.

Araghchi said the issue was highly significant for Iran, adding that Tehran uses the opportunity each year to present its established positions and defend the rights of the Iranian people.

He added that this year, the platform would also be used to draw global attention to the oppression endured by the Iranian people and to honor the country’s martyrs, including those killed at the Minab school and, above all, their martyred leader.

Last year, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used the same platform to highlight what he described as atrocities committed during the 12-day war. “Naturally, we are facing an even more critical situation this year,” Araghchi said.

The president’s agenda and a busy diplomatic schedule.

Iran’s foreign minister said President Masoud Pezeshkian would address the UN General Assembly and meet with Iranian and foreign intellectuals, media figures and thinkers. Pezeshkian is also expected to give interviews to several outlets and hold numerous bilateral meetings with heads of state.

Araghchi said he would personally meet with foreign ministers on the sidelines, describing the talks as an opportunity to review bilateral relations, outline Iran’s positions and safeguard the country’s interests.

He also highlighted side events, including an environmental summit, and said Iran would participate in meetings of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Non-Aligned Movement and other groups holding gatherings during New York’s high-level week.

He said the scheduled meetings, with all participants in attendance, would provide an opportunity for bilateral talks on Iran’s relations with various countries. He added that the time would be used efficiently during an intensive four- to five-day program.

The UN theme highlights a collapse in trust.

Araghchi said this year’s General Assembly theme, “restoring trust in the United Nations,” amounted to an acknowledgment that confidence in the organization had eroded and effectively disappeared because it had failed to uphold international peace and security.

He blamed powerful actors that assume the right to act with impunity, disregard international institutions and law, and claim immunity for themselves and their allies.

He said the lack of accountability had allowed Israel to act with impunity, while Western and European countries that portray themselves as defenders of human rights and international humanitarian law had remained silent.

He said Iran had seen no serious condemnation from those same governments of crimes committed in Palestine, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Araghchi accused some countries of shedding “crocodile tears” and raising an outcry over incidents in Iran while failing to issue even a basic condemnation of atrocities in which 168 children were deliberately killed at once.

He concluded that no trust could survive in an organization influenced by such countries. Restoring confidence was therefore essential, providing the world with an opportunity to examine how trust in the United Nations had been eroded and consider how it could be rebuilt.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in New York on Monday evening with a high-level delegation to attend the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly. Pezeshkian is scheduled to travel to New York on Tuesday to address the Assembly and hold talks with world leaders on the sidelines.

Araghchi holds talks with the U.N. secretary-general.

Foreign Minister Araghchi held a phone call with UN Secretary-General António Guterres shortly after arriving in New York.

The discussion centered on the UN General Assembly’s agenda and the Secretary-General’s efforts to promote international peace and security.