President Hassan Rouhani on Monday departed Tehran for New York to attend the UN General Assembly on a mission to win Iran support against “cruel” pressure from arch-foe the United States.
Speaking to reporters before boarding his flight, Rouhani said his delegation was heading to the UN gathering despite reluctance from President Donald Trump’s administration to issue them visas.
Rouhani said he would present an Iranian plan for peace in the Gulf to the UN General Assembly.
A handout photo made available by the Presidential Office of Iran shows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani waving during his farewell ceremony before his departure to New York to attend the United Nations (UN) General Assembly summit; at the Mehr Abad airport in Tehran, Iran, 23 September 2019. Media reported that Rouhani said that he would present cooperation plan for peace in the region to the UN during the summit in New York. EPA-EFE/PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE OF IRAN
Under the plan dubbed the Hormuz Peace Endeavour, or HOPE, he said, “all the coastal states of the Persian Gulf are invited to join this coalition to provide and maintain regional security”.
Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since May last year when Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal and began reimposing sanctions on Iran in a stated campaign of “maximum pressure”.
