Iran leader says UN meeting shows ‘nobody backs America’
Rouhani points to Security Council gathering that saw world leaders push back against nuke deal pullout as proof of Trump’s isolation
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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the UN Security Council meeting chaired by US President Donald Trump shows America is increasingly isolated among the international community.
Rouhani spoke after returning to Tehran on Thursday from New York, where he addressed the UN General Assembly.
He said Trump achieved the opposite of what he’d hoped for and that the Security Council meeting backed Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Trump pulled America out of the accord in May and is re-imposing sanctions on Iran. European allies and Iran have pledged their continued commitment to the agreement, which had lifted earlier imposed sanctions in return for curbs in Tehran’s nuclear program.
Rouhani said “nobody backed the United States, putting America into a unique historical and political isolation.”
On Wednesday, Rouhani told reporters at the UN that the US withdrawal from the deal was “a mistake” and that he believes America will “sooner or later” support the deal.
At the Security Council meeting, Trump accused the Iranian regime of stepping up its aggression after signing a nuclear accord in 2015 and said Tehran took advantage of the lifting of sanctions to fund a missile program and support terrorism.
“The regime used new funds from the deal to support terrorism, build nuclear capable missiles, and foment chaos,” he said.
France, however, hit back, with President Emmanuel Macron declaring that concerns about Iran cannot be tackled with “a policy of sanctions and containment.”
Also defending the 2015 deal, which was endorsed in a Security Council resolution, British Prime Minister Teresa May said it “remains the best means of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.”
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that the “rights of all countries to trade with Iran should be respected” after the European Union said a special payment system would be set up to keep alive business ties with Iran.
On Tuesday, during an unabashedly “America First” speech at the UN, Trump said Iranian leaders “sow chaos, death, and destruction” and “spread mayhem across the Middle East and far beyond.” His national security adviser, John Bolton, later warned that there would be “hell to pay” if Tehran crossed the US, its allies or their partners.
The Times of Israel Community.