UNGA General Debate Day 2
This one may take you straight to the speeches, but the previous one has the sequence of events.
And here is a YouTube if you only want to let the speeches play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTiapR-CUlI
So far there is nothing new, excepting perhaps The Syrian Arab Republic who complained that Israel is attacking them. https://gadebate.un.org/en/81/syrian-arab-republic
We had Latvia and Romania and both are straight up Trump, Europe is being attacked, there are drones in their airspace, Russia is bad, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and cannot leave the NPT, Hamas must be obliterated, they are a little ‘concerned’ about what is happening in the West Bank, but nobody mentions Israel and the UN must do its job because it is not.
We now have Burundi and the tone has changed. African Solutions for African problems and the water problems and an Africa that is master of its own destiny. The UN must be more representative of Africa and a better representation overall – a global partnership found not on dependency. Multilateralism.
Next Pezeskian from Iran.
The United States described us as terrorists. We are the victims of terrorism. I come from an Iran where our leader was assassinated, they bombed a school with weapons used by the United States and Israel. A sportshall with weapons with multiple warhead martyred the children. We defend ourselves with utmost strength. Our people stood steadfast and we responsded but we did not hit civilians. They hit schools, hospitals, Israel commits assassinations in Gaza .. 80,000 murdered, they are committing genocide. Are we the source for instability? Are those that commit crimes the protectors of peace and stability?. None of the international laws have been abided to. For 200 Years, Iran has not attacked anyone, but now we are labelled terrorists? The path that we have chosen is power to defend ourselves. Our people have been in the streets every night.
I’ll find the transcript as this is going too fast. This is from the heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTiapR-CUlI
The Iranian channels took it down:
Iran’s President at the UNGA in New York:
“Yesterday, the president of the United States said we are terrorists. But as a matter of fact, we are the victims of terrorism. I come from Iran, where they assassinated our leader, on lawless grounds. I come from Iran, where they bombed a school of children.”
“This is a world where the powerful, instead of thinking about the people, humanity, justice, and democracy, are agents of destruction, devastation, and ruin. And when they want to destroy someone, they label them a ‘terrorist’.
For 200 years, Iran has not attacked any country. For 200 years, we have always defended ourselves. Yet now we are being accused of being ‘terrorists’ and are accused of being the source of insecurity in the region.
This has led us to choose a strategy for ourselves: We want power so that we can defend ourselves. We do not seek power in order to commit aggression. We want energy for development. We don’t want it to build bombs, cause destruction, or threaten society.
And when it comes to security, the Iranian nation wants to participate and contribute.” “And when it comes to security, we want to participate and contribute. Over the past 7 months, the Iranian people have been in the streets every night to defend our country and to prevent those whom the US and Israel had incited and armed from coming in and creating insecurity inside the country.
The people are our strength, and we have stood firm with the strength of the people. Iran must be powerful enough that its survival and progress cannot be threatened, responsible enough not to use its power for domination, and farsighted enough not to seek its own security in the insecurity of its neighbors.”
Regarding Iran’s defense, we have built our defensive systems so that no one imagines that bombing Iranian cities will go unanswered. Iran’s military power is for defense. But we say clearly: We do not seek anyone’s permission to defend our country.
We want energy for development. For years, we have spoken about our peaceful nuclear program. Iran is often discussed in the language of centrifuges, enrichment, sanctions, and bombs, but for our people, nuclear technology is part of the right to development. Nuclear energy also provides treatment for our patients. Iran does not accept that nuclear knowledge should be the exclusive privilege of a few countries. Iran does not regard nuclear weapons as a source of security, but neither will it give up its right to science, industry, and peaceful nuclear energy.
We state this clearly: NO to nuclear weapons, and NO to being deprived of nuclear knowledge.
Security knows no borders. A crisis in one country can spread to its neighbors. That is why Iran does not see its neighbors as rivals to its own security. We want our neighbors to be strong. In a waterway such as the Strait of Hormoz, it is unacceptable for everyone to benefit from freedom of navigation while, at the same time, the historic guardian of those waters is deprived, because of unjust sanctions, of exercising that same freedom, even in its own waters. They block our way, and then weapons, explosives, missiles, and energy used to destroy countries are transported through that very same waterway.
This is not acceptable.
“Now regarding Palestine: Palestine remains a wound on the conscience of the international community, and Gaza remains a symbol of the failure of international organizations to prevent the suffering of civilians. For decades, resolutions have been issued, yet occupation and violence continue. We cannot speak of peace while ignoring Palestine. Lasting peace in West Asia will not endure without justice for Palestine.
As long as occupation, aggression, and such conditions continue in the world, resistance will continue as well. If one form of resistance is weakened, it will re-emerge in other forms, perhaps even stronger than before. Gaza, despite relentless killing and widespread destruction, has demonstrated the people’s conviction that resistance cannot be forced into surrender through bombs and siege. This is human nature. It’s part of the very nature of human beings.
If someone is driven from their land, they will resist.
If someone’s home and livelihood are bombed, they will resist.
What else are they supposed to do if they do not resist? Are they supposed to accept being bullied? Are they supposed to accept being driven from their homes and remain silent in the face of such aggression? And then, if they try to defend themselves, they are called “terrorists”.
This is part of the new language of the world in which we live today.
It is clear that the problems of our region, before being turned into pretexts for wars by distant powers, have the potential to be resolved within the region itself and by the countries of the region. Strategic independence means that relations with no foreign power should ever be turned into an opportunity for war against a neighboring country.”
“They have tested Iran’s resilience, and now know that Iran cannot be forced into submission through war. Iran has never been the initiator of any war and has always demonstrated its commitment to the negotiating table. War was imposed on us, but we proved that we are not afraid of war when it comes to defending ourselves, and that we do not shy away from negotiations when it comes to peace.
We will stand, even at the cost of our lives, in defense of our beloved Iran. The theme of this summit is rebuilding trust. Trust cannot be built with words alone; it requires abandoning double standards.
Nuclear weapons and other WMDs in this region are in the hands of the Israeli regime, yet inspections are demanded of Iran…?
Israel massacred 70,000 people in Gaza, while Iran was bombed while sitting at the negotiating table.
Israel possesses nuclear weapons, is not a member of the NPT, and throughout its entire disgraceful existence has never allowed a single IAEA inspector into its territory.
Yet it receives billions of dollars’ worth of weapons for free and enjoys immunity to bomb whichever capital it chooses.”
“We must not allow the 21st century to become an era of returning to the politics of force and the rule of the powerful. We must not build a world in which military power replaces legitimacy, sanctions replace diplomacy, terror replaces politics, and war replaces dialogue.
Iran extends a hand of cooperation to the world. We call on the world not toward another war, but toward peace and justice, not out of weakness, but out of confidence in our own strength and from an understanding of this truth: no one in this region can have security alone.
Either we will build security together, or we will endure insecurity together.”
“US president should know that threats against our nation only make us more united, stronger, and more determined in our resistance. He must understand that the Iranian nation will not bow in the face of threats, and aggressors will be made to regret their actions. This is something Trump, and anyone else must understand.“
President Pezeshkian shows an image of Iran’s martyred Supreme Leader, calls the U.S. a terrorist regime, and ends his speech at the UNGA and leaves the building.
The American delegation left the UN General Assembly when Pezeskian spoke about America’s crimes