Raeisi starts UN week with call for multilateralism

Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, New York City

The 77th United Nations General Assembly has opened, with the UN Secretary-General warning of a “winter of discontent”, as many Western nations are economically reeling from the backfiring of their sanctions on Russia.

Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi will give his first address to the UN on September 21, with a focus on creating a more just world through economic multilateralism.

Raeisi met with French President Emmanuel Macron and top leaders of the European Union, but amid what Iranian delegates described as a very tense atmosphere. France and the other Western signatories have failed- for years- to adhere to the 2015 landmark agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Raeisi told Macron that Europe needs to show that its foreign policies are guided by the sovereign interests of their citizens, and actually separate from the demands of Washington.

This week Raeisi will hold bilateral meetings with the heads of Iraq, Pakistan, Japan and more than a half-dozen other nations, as well as with representatives of a large Iranian-American community, a group estimated to be well over two million people.

Raeisi stressed that Iran is willing to reach a "fair and stable agreement" to revive the 2015 deal, but Iran needs to receive reassuring guarantees that Washington does not withdraw from the accord again, like it did in May 2018.

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