Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Tuesday afternoon in New York City amid a wash of stories involving Tehran’s involvement in assassination attempts against U.S. politicians and election interference.
Pezeshkian, who turned heads this week for his 40-member strong delegation which reportedly includes his adult children, has already made headlines upon his arrival for comments he made suggesting Israel is looking to start an all-out war in the Middle East by turning Lebanon into the next Gaza.
BIDEN TO ADDRESS UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR LAST TIME AS DICTATORS, DESPOTS COME TO NEW YORK
President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 16, 2024. (West Asia News Agency/Majid Asgaripour via Reuters)
“We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible,” he told reporters Monday, according to Reuters. “We want to live in peace, we don’t want war.
“It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict,” he added.
His comments to the General Assembly are expected to largely focus on the ongoing fight in the Middle East as Israel finds itself pitted against Iran’s terror proxies Hamas and Hezbollah.
Pezeshkian’s comments are likely to draw focus on the high number of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza, and recently the Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, where nearly 500 people were killed, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, reported the BBC early Tuesday. It’s not known how many of the dead are Hezbollah terrorists.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leads a prayer over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
While the U.N. has condemned Israeli attacks on civilians, the Iranian president’s comments are likely to ring hollow among some at the international body as Tehran has substantially backed the terrorist organizations that have engaged in the fight against the Jewish state.
There is the other matter of Tehran’s exposed plot to assassinate Donald Trump, as well as potentially President Biden, Nikki Haley, along with other “politicians, military people or bureaucrats,” according to FBI documents released by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, earlier this month.
The FBI further confirmed last week that Iran hackers attempted to supply the Democratic presidential campaign with stolen communication files from the Trump campaign.
While it appears the Iranian attempts to mimic the Russia-style hack-and-leak operations utilized during the 2016 campaign was a failed push to cause turmoil in the U.S. ahead of the elections, the assassination plot was likely due to the 2020 killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani during Trump’s time as president.
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A protest held in Istanbul, Turkey, on Dec. 31, 2022, over the death in Iran of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained on the grounds that she did not comply with the headscarf rules. (Hakan Akgun/dia images via Getty Images)
Pezeshkian’s trip to the U.S. for the top U.N. meeting drew condemnation from U.S. lawmakers last month. They encouraged Biden to block his visa over concerns his presence would “raise serious security issues” for the U.S. and its allies.
Hunger strikers were also reported at a notorious female prison in Iran in protest of the Iranian president’s address amid Tehran increasing the number of executions and in a call for the release of all political and ideological detainees, according to Iran International.