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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 21 (AP) Iran’s president insisted on Wednesday that his country is seriously considering reviving a deal aimed at preventing it from acquiring a nuclear bomb, but questioned whether Tehran could trust the United States’ commitment to any final deal.
President Ibrahim Raisi told the United Nations General Assembly that the United States had “trampled” a previous agreement, referring to the U.S. decision to withdraw from it in 2018.
Since Iran’s 1979 revolution toppled the Western-backed shah, Tehran has been at odds with the United States and has sought to position itself as a counterweight to American power.
Tehran’s determination to resist U.S. pressure has allowed it to forge close ties with countries such as Russia, develop a domestic ballistic missile program and try to export its narrow revolutionary ideals to Middle Eastern countries through Shiite militias and proxies.
Iran’s insistence that its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes is seen as an extension of its contempt for the US-led world order.
After former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a deal brokered by the Obama administration, Tehran gradually dropped all restrictions on its nuclear enrichment under the agreement.
But efforts to salvage the deal are now approaching a take-or-drop inflection point. EU officials have warned that the window for a nuclear deal is closing.
In exchange for agreeing to the terms of the new nuclear deal, Iran will receive relief from economic sanctions and greater access to global financial markets and dollar flows.
Lacey said there was “a great and serious will to address everything” in the nuclear talks, but added: “Our desire is for only one thing: to keep our promises.”
“Can we really trust if there is no guarantee and assurance that they will deliver on their promises this time?” he asked the US.
Fluctuations in U.S. foreign policy and successive administrations involve not just Iran but U.S. allies, who have questioned America’s reliability and its commitment to deals, from climate to security.
Despite his expressed desire for a deal, Lacey criticized what he said was an uneven scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear activities, while other countries’ atomic programs remained secret – mentioning Israel, which has never confirmed or denied having such arms. Israel, which strongly opposes the nuclear deal, has accused Iran of concealing certain aspects of its nuclear program from U.N. inspectors.
“We will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a speech to the United Nations, but he stressed that the United States is ready to rejoin the deal if Iran strengthens its commitments.
Raisi, a former head of the Iranian judiciary, also denounced Western “double standards” on human rights. He accused Israel of building the world’s largest prison by blocking the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
He also cited the discovery of Aboriginal mass graves in Canada and the way the United States detains immigrants and refugees along its southern border.
Raisi, wearing the traditional black turban symbolizing Shiite clerics, held up a photo of the slain General Qassem Soleimani, who he described as a “freedom seeker”. The head of the Revolutionary Guards, which oversees Iranian militias and proxy armed groups in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere, was assassinated in a Trump-authorized strike in 2020 when tensions with Iran were at their peak.
Raisi, who was sworn in as president just a year ago, has been described as a protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. For the first time as president, he spoke from a podium at the United Nations. Last year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, he almost addressed the convention.
He told the gathered leaders that Iran wanted “broad relations with all of our neighbors” – an apparent reference to foe Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in the region.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have held several direct talks over the past year, although tensions between the two countries remain high. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates recently reopened its embassy in Tehran and sent an ambassador to Tehran.
Raisi’s remarks came at a sensitive time for Iran.
Israel’s shadow war against Iran continues. It is widely believed to be behind the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists and sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Western sanctions, which Mr. Raisi has called “punishment for the Iranian people,” have eaten into Iran’s reserves, fueled inflation and devalued the country’s currency against the dollar.
Economic protests have erupted — and often with deadly force.
In recent days, protesters have clashed with police in cities across the country, including the capital, after a 22-year-old woman was detained by the ethics police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strictly enforced dress code.
Raisi offered condolences to the woman’s family and pledged to investigate, while other Iranian officials accused unnamed foreign countries of using the incident to incite unrest. Her death sparked long-standing anger among many Iranians, especially young people, against the country’s ruling cleric. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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