The Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi gave his anticipated address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, despite the outcry from an international audience who objected to his appearance at the event.
Raisi opened his speech by saying that as the ‘elected of the great people of Iran’, he wants to send a message of ‘rationality, justice, and freedom’ to the world.
Rather than attend the meeting in person, Raisi elected to send a pre-recorded speech to the UNGA, most likely to avoid the backlash from outraged Iranian expats and human rights organizations, considering his past human rights abuses, most notably his involvement in the 1988 massacre where 30,000 political prisoners were brutally executed for supporting the Iranian Resistance.
In his speech, Raisi stressed the need for all parties to the nuclear negotiations to remain committed to their obligations under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and blamed the U.S. for not lifting nuclear sanctions.
It is no surprise that Raisi neglected to make any remarks on the international concern that the regime is heading towards amassing weapons-grade uranium. The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported a few weeks ago that the regime has stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and consistently refuses to answer questions regarding its nuclear program.
Raisi went on to blame the West for hampering Iran’s coronavirus response by placing sanctions on medicine. Interestingly, Raisi made no mention of regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s ban on the import of vaccines from the U.S. and UK.
Raisi claimed that the regime decided at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to import vaccines from reliable international sources but so-called sanctions on medicines meant that the Iranian people were unable to receive them. However, the US has stressed that no sanctions have ever been placed on medicines, medical appliances, food, or humanitarian goods.
Iran is hit by one of the worst covid pandemics in the world, with nearly 450,000 people killed since February 2020, mainly because of the regime’s criminal and destructive policies. Yet Raisi went on to call his regime ‘Asia’s medical pole’.
During his speech, Raisi stated, “The security-establishing example of the Islamic Republic is founded on regional mechanisms based on diplomacy without any external meddling. Our policy is to preserve the stability and sovereignty of all countries of the region.”
However, he neglected to mention that his regime has been funding many terrorist organizations, across the Middle East, for several years. These groups include Hezbollah in Lebanon; the Hashd Al-Shabi in Iraq; the Assad regime in Syria; and the Houthis in Yemen and many others.
Instead, he boasted about the regime’s achievements, many of which were fabricated. At the same time, Iranian expats around the world held protest rallies to expose his history of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity, as well as calling for international authorities to prosecute him in tribunals abroad.
Former political prisoners and families of prisoners and dissidents executed by Raisi and other regime officials made it clear in their rallies in the past weeks around the world that Raisi as a criminal who must be sentenced does not represent the Iranian people and he does not deserve to be given a podium to address the world.
This is what former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo in his speech at the ‘Support a Free Iran’ conference held in Washington DC by Iranian dissidents on September 29, 2021, pointed to as he said:
“Any dealings with Ebrahim Raisi will be tantamount to dealing with a mass murderer. This is not only immoral but counterproductive. Iran regime President Ebrahim Raisi should be prosecuted not next year, not next month, not tomorrow, but now.”
