Rouhani hits back at ‘hateful rhetoric’
Iran’s President warned yesterday that his country will “respond decisively” to any violation of the agreement that reins in its nuclear programme and called United States President Donald Trump’s “ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric” about Iran unfit for the United Nations.
In remarks clearly directed at Trump’s 8-month-old Administration, Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani told the UN General Assembly: “It will be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics.
“The world will have lost a great opportunity, but such unfortunate behaviour will never impede Iran’s course of progress and advancement,” Rouhani said.
As he spoke to the assembly, other nations began signing the first treaty to ban nuclear weapons, a pact spurned by nuclear powers.
Fifty states put their names on the nuclear weapons pact by the end of the day. Guyana, the Vatican and Thailand also have already ratified the treaty, which would take effect if 50 nations take that step.
The UN Security Council, meanwhile, approved a resolution supporting efforts to reform the world body’s far-flung peacekeeping operations. US Vice-President Mike Pence joined the discussion on a Trump Administration priority, applauding the resolution and saying all peacekeeping missions should have an exit strategy.
“When a mission succeeds, we must not prolong it. When a mission underperforms, we should restructure it. And when a mission consistently fails to fulfil a mandate of this council, we should end it,” he said.
While Iran dominated the second day of the assembly’s annual ministerial meeting, plenty of other issues were on the agenda of world leaders.
British Prime Minister Theresa May called for stronger steps to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons buildup, and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged international unity in pressuring Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned Israel not to turn the Middle East’s decades-long conflict into a religious one. And Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko renewed calls for a UN peacekeeping mission to his country amid what he describes as “blatant” violations of its sovereignty by Russia.
Burma’s Vice-President Henry Van Thio said his Government is committed to long-term solutions to the tensions in Rakhine state, from which more than 420,000 Muslims have fled crackdown to Bangladesh.
He spoke at the UN in the absence of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s civilian Government who has been criticised for failing to protect the minority group.
The crackdown has been described by the UN and others — including Rouhani — as ethnic cleansing.
Van Thio said “deep mistrust developed over decades has to be slowly chiselled away”.
Rouhani’s speech came a day after Trump, in his own address to the assembly, called the UN-backed Iran nuclear deal “an embarrassment” to the US. He also called the Iranian Government “a corrupt dictatorship” and “a murderous regime” that funds terrorists.
Rouhani retorted that “the ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric, filled with ridiculously baseless allegations, that was uttered before this august body yesterday” didn’t befit an organisation established to promote peace and respect among nations.
In a later tweet, he made clear that the comments were directed at Trump. Rohingya a military neighbouring