As UN General Debate Opens, Iran Deal Takes The Stage “Obama, Rouhani expected to talk up the potential of international cooperation on Islamic State, Syria — and nukes”
The General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly will open Monday morning with speeches from headliners ranging from US President Barack Obama to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani.
While the podium of the General Debate has seen drama and surprises over the years, one thing is certain about Monday’s performances — the nuclear deal between the P5+1 states and Iran will take center stage.
A senior White House official said Sunday evening that when Obama takes the podium as the fourth speaker at the 70th General Debate, he will emphasize the importance of nations working cooperatively while arguing that those states that pursue a path of aggression are weaker and will ultimately fail.
Obama will define appropriate leadership on the international stage as one that confronts threats while pursuing diplomacy, seeking the fulfillment of democratic principles and establishing support for international institutions and laws.
The official said that the president will highlight the nuclear deal with Iran, reached in July of this year, as an example of international cooperation in order to hold states accountable for flaunting international laws. The deal, the official said, will serve as the example of how diplomacy can be used to achieve international objectives.
A similar theme has already been unfurled by Iran’s Rouhani, attending meetings at the UN facility in New York in advance of the General Debate.
On Saturday, the Iranian president touted the deal as an example of Iran’s willingness to work in partnership with other states, and on Sunday, Rouhani recorded a lengthy radio interview with America’s National Public Radio in which he sounded themes strikingly similar to those expected to come from Obama during his Monday speech.
Although the interview will only be aired in full on Monday, Rouhani tweeted during the interview that “#IranDeal revived hope that negotiations, though not easy, can resolve complicated cases.”
Despite their common affirmation of the virtue of the nuclear deal, the odds of Obama and Rouhani holding a meeting — or even a brief encounter — on the sidelines of Monday’s debate seemed to decline slightly Sunday. Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, indicated that Rouhani will leave earlier than anticipated — shortly after his speech on Monday — in order to return to Tehran for a mass funeral of Iranian pilgrims killed during last week’s hajj stampede.
During last year’s General Debate, journalists waited with baited breath to see whether Rouhani and Obama would have a carefully choreographed “chance meeting” in the midst of the ongoing nuclear talks. No such meeting transpired, but upon returning to Iran, Rouhani still faced criticism for appearing too warm toward the west in general — and the United States, specifically.
The nuclear deal is not likely to be the only overlapping theme addressed by Obama and Rouhani. The civil war in Syria and the spread of the Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq are also expected to be popular topics on the opening day. Obama will touch upon both topics, and both Rouhani and Putin, who will speak in mid-morning after Obama and before Rouhani, are likely to touch upon themes related to these major regional challenges.
Rouhani has been vocal on Iran’s position on Syria during his weekend in New York, arguing that while Iran is reticent to discuss the end game of the Syrian conflict — Tehran is a major supporter of the Assad regime — it will work in concert with the international community to defeat the Islamic State group.
“We must all act in unison and have a formula that is required to drive out the terrorists, immediately,” he told NPR during the interview.