Iran’s president likens sanctions to ‘war’

Raisi uses first UN address as president to slam US, but backs nuclear deal talks

Iran’s new president slammed US sanctions imposed on his nation as a mechanism of war yesterday, packing a full slate of direct criticism of the US into his first UN address as head of state.

“Sanctions are the US’ new way of war with the nations of the world,” President Ebrahim Raisi said. Although some 100 heads of state and government are attending the UN General Assembly leaders’ meeting in New York, Raisi delivered his remarks from Tehran remotely.

Raisi used his time before world leaders to slam the US and espouse Iran’s Islamic political identity. “Today, the US does not get to exit Iraq and Afghanistan, but is expelled,” he said. “Today, the world doesn’t care about ‘America First’ or ‘America is Back’,” he added, referring to the slogans used by Republican US President Donald Trump and his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden.

Raisi voiced support for reviving a nuclear accord. “The Islamic Republic considers useful talks whose ultimate outcome is the lifting of all oppressive sanctions,” Raisi said.

‘No place for nukes in Iran’

Indirect talks brokered by the EU have been on hiatus since June after months of negotiations with the previous government failed to secure a path forward. Raisi repeated Iran’s stance that nuclear weapons are religiously prohibited.

Nuclear weapons “have no place in our defence doctrine and deterrence policy,” he said.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, which remains in the nuclear accord, said it was urgent to resume negotiations.

“We’re not going to wait two or three months for the Iranian delegation to return to Vienna. It has to be quicker,” Maas said.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, traveling with Raisi, said he expected a resumption of the indirect talks “in the coming weeks,” without giving an exact date.