IRAN'S President Masoud Pezeshkian departed Tehran for New York on Tuesday (September 22) in a defiant mood, accusing world powers of trampling signed agreements and committing crimes against civilians, as he prepared to address the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Speaking before his departure, Pezeshkian said parties had repeatedly violated written agreements reached at the negotiating table, and condemned what he described as ongoing atrocities in Gaza, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
He made pointed reference to the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the city of Minab, where Iranian officials said more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi spoke in New York after landing, saying the assembly's theme this year — "Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All" — was itself an acknowledgement that confidence in the international body had collapsed, which he attributed to a number of countries disregarding international law and institutions.
Oil prices gained for the first time in five sessions on Tuesday as investors awaited developments on potential US-Iran talks at the UN General Assembly this week after more supplies emerged through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.
Middle East tensions remained elevated after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said they attacked Riyadh and a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu and stepped up efforts to cut off Saudi-backed forces from the Red Sea coast.
