America attacked the house of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the very first day of waging war with Iran. Khamenei and four of his close family members died in this. Till now, more than half of the Iranian leadership and more than 8 thousand Iranians have been killed in this war.
.
But now after 7 months, Iranian President Masood Pazashkian is about to reach New York. He will deliver a speech today at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held every year. He will also be accompanied by Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi. America, which considers these leaders as its enemies, has given them visas.
This is not the first time that America has given visas to its opposition leaders to attend UNGA and those leaders have come to New York and cursed America. You will know about 5 such famous stories in Bhaskar Explainer…
Fidel Castro took power in January 1959 after the Cuban Revolution. America was angry with this. So much so that in March 1960, US President Eisenhower asked his intelligence agency CIA to overthrow the Castro government.
However, Fidel Castro and his delegation had to be granted visas for the UNGA being held in September 1960. Castro arrived in New York on September 19. He had made a booking at the Shelburne Hotel in Manhattan, but the hotel refused to accommodate him. They moved into the Theresa Hotel in Harlem.
At the Theresa Hotel, Castro met Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Civil rights activist Malcolm X and many African-American leaders also visited him.
On September 26, 1960, Castro began his speech at the UNGA by saying, ‘It is said that I give long speeches, but you have no need to worry. I will only give a short speech.
However, Castro did the opposite and gave the longest speech in the history of UNGA. He continued speaking for 269 minutes i.e. 4 hours 29 minutes.
Castro gave most of his speeches without reading, although from time to time he would read from his tattered notebook.
Castro accused the US of interfering in Latin America and encouraging dictatorship. He said that the Cuban Revolution was not only against one dictator (Batista), but against the entire system which had kept Cuba a slave of America.
Castro defeated presidential candidate John F. Attacked Kennedy and Richard Nixon fiercely. He even called Kennedy an ‘illiterate and ignorant millionaire’, while describing Nixon as weak in political intelligence.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), formed in 1974 to demand a Palestinian state, was considered a terrorist organization by America and Israel. But on 14 October 1974, the UNGA recognized the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people and invited them to deliver a speech. Israel and America opposed this, but America had to grant the visa.
A month later, on 13 November 1974, PLO chief Yasser Arafat reached UNGA. This was the first time that a representative of a non-member organization of the UN got to deliver a speech at the UNGA. In an 80-minute speech he demanded an independent state for Palestinians.
Arafat said, ‘I am a rebel and my aim is freedom. The only difference between a revolutionary and a terrorist is who is fighting for what reason? Those who occupy and exploit are the real terrorists, not those who fight for freedom.
Finally he said, ‘Today I have come with an olive branch in one hand and a freedom fighter’s gun in the other. Don’t let the olive branch fall from my hand.’
These lines of Arafat are famous even today. One of his pictures is also quite popular, in which a holster is seen peeking out from his jacket. There was also a controversy whether he had removed the pistol before going on the stage or not.
Gun holster visible outside the jacket of PLO chief Yasser Arafat, who came to deliver speech at UNGA.
On 22 November 1974, nine days after Arafat’s speech, the UNGA granted observer status to the PLO. This is considered to be the beginning of the Palestinian issue getting recognized in the world for the first time.
On 19 September 2006, US President George W. Bush spoke at the UNGA. He described the ongoing American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a fight for ‘freedom and democracy’, even though both countries were under American military occupation.
The very next day, on September 20, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reached the same podium. At the beginning of the speech he drew a Catholic cross and said, ‘The devil came here yesterday. Right here. Even today the smell of sulfur is felt here. Yesterday the President of America, whom I call Satan, came here and spoke as if he was the master of the whole world.
Chavez also advised reading American philosopher Noam Chomsky’s book ‘Hegemony or Survival’. Within a day, this book jumped from number 20,664 to the top-10 on Amazon.
Chávez described Bush’s policy as ‘democracy imposed by bombs and bullets’. He demanded reforms in the UN Security Council and abolition of veto power.
Interestingly, there was no senior US ambassador at UNGA that day, only a junior note-taker. Later, the then US UN Ambassador John Bolton described Chávez’s speech as insulting and a ‘comic-strip’ view of international affairs, i.e. childish and cartoonish.
In September 1969, Libyan Army Captain Muammar Gaddafi overthrew King Idris I. Gaddafi adopted anti-American policies and started a nuclear program. Angered by this, America declared Libya a ‘country sponsoring terrorism’.
Gaddafi arrived in America for the first time after 40 years of taking power and on September 23, 2009, he gave his first speech at UNGA. Gaddafi, wearing brown Bedouin robes, a black hat, dark glasses, a brooch resembling the African continent on his chest and a red handkerchief, described himself as ‘King of African Kings’.
Gaddafi alleged that the UN had failed to stop 65 wars in the world since its establishment. It should not be called Security Council, but Terror Council.
Gaddafi was given 15 minutes to speak, but he continued to speak for 96 minutes using yellowed pages torn from a notebook. Due to the long speech the auditorium became half empty. Even US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice walked out. Only the junior note-taker should sit at the back. Gaddafi’s own translator also got tired and left the speech midway. UN staff had to replace him.
Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi gave a speech for 96 minutes, reading from the torn yellow pages of a notebook.
At the end of the speech, Gaddafi picked up a copy of the UN Charter, read some parts of it out loud and tore it slightly and tossed it back. Said that the veto given to 5 permanent members of the Security Council is against the spirit of the Charter. This must end.
Apart from this, he praised US President Barack Obama as ‘our son’ – ‘We Africans are happy and proud that a son of Africa is ruling America.’
Later the same day, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown responded at the UNGA that he had come to re-accept the UN Charter, not to tear it. UN spokeswoman Michelle Montas called the disregard for the charter unacceptable.
On the morning of September 23, 2010, Obama gave a soft-spoken speech at the UNGA, offering talks with Iran. However, a few hours later, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on the stage, the atmosphere changed.
Ahmadinejad enumerated 3 theories regarding the 9/11 attacks. First- A powerful terrorist group carried out this by dodging the American intelligence system; Secondly, some people of the American government itself planned this attack to handle the sinking economy, strengthen its hold in the Middle East and save the Zionist regime (Israel) and thirdly, it was the work of a terrorist group, of which the American government took advantage.
Ahmadinejad blamed the US government for 9/11 and claimed that the majority of Americans, most countries and leaders of the world agree with this (second theory). He also demanded the formation of an international fact-finding team to investigate this.
While giving the speech, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also raised the Islamic scripture Quran and the Christian scripture Bible.
On hearing the second theory, 33 delegations including America left the Sagabhag. These included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica and all 27 countries of the European Union.
US mission spokesman Mark Kornblau said Ahmadinejad was making ‘sleazy conspiracy claims and anti-Semitic nonsense’.
The White House also issued a statement saying that President Obama found the comments ‘deeply offensive and offensive’, especially since they were made in the same New York City where the World Trade Center buildings collapsed.
After all, why does America allow its biggest enemy to come to its own soil?
The answer lies in a 79 year old agreement…
- After the end of the Second World War, in 1945, 51 countries together created a global platform – ‘United Nations’ i.e. UN. The aim was to save the world from such wars.
- Cities like Geneva, London, San Francisco and New York were considered for the permanent headquarters of the UN. Ultimately New York was chosen.
- Along with this, America had to take a responsibility to allow the representative of the UN member country to come to its soil, no matter what kind of relations it has with it.
- For this, ‘Headquarters Agreement’ was signed between America and UN on 26 June 1947. Then UN Secretary General Trygve Lee and US Secretary of State George C. Marshall signed it. This law came into force on 21 November 1947.
- It is written in Sections 11 to 13 of this agreement that representatives of member countries will have the right to travel to the UN Headquarters, no matter what America’s immigration rules say.
This is the reason why America cannot legally stop the Iranian delegation in the midst of war. However, America can limit the movement of the delegation. This is also happening.
The Iranian delegation arriving for the UNGA this time only visited the UN Headquarters, Iran’s Permanent UN Mission, the Iranian Ambassador’s residence and the John F. Will be able to travel between Kennedy International Airport. To go anywhere else they will have to take permission from the US government.
America has asked Iran to keep its delegation small. Also he was banned from going to club and market. Luxury shopping was also banned.
On September 22, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reached New York with the Iranian delegation.
So can’t America stop the opposition leader from coming to New York for UNGA?
In the ‘Headquarters Agreement’, the US government has got the right to stop any person who ‘threatens America’s security’.
On this basis, America did not give visa to Yasser Arafat in 1988. The US State Department had then said that there was strong evidence of PLO’s involvement in terrorist activities. As a result, UNGA had to shift its entire session to Geneva that year and America had to face heavy criticism for this.
America did not give visa to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas even in 2025 and 2026. America says that PLO and Palestinian Authority did not live up to their promises. They are trying to internationalize the Israel-Palestine dispute through the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. Last time Abbas gave a virtual speech at UNGA. This will happen this time also.
Mahmood Abbas giving online speech in 2025.
However, there is a subtle difference in this exemption given to America. In fact, Abbas and PLO officials are not the heads of any full member country of the UN, but representatives of a non-member entity. Therefore, it is politically and legally easier for America to ban them. Blocking the elected President of a full member country like Iran would be a much bigger diplomatic step and would lead to the US being accused of breaking the ‘Headquarters Agreement’.
————–
Read this news also…
Who are the Huthi fighters wearing slippers and lungis who shot down Saudi’s F-15 jet? Why are Pakistan and America running away from them?
Wearing slippers on their feet, lungi around their waist, and a sword in their mouth, Houthi rebels have shot down Saudi Arabia’s F-15 fighter jet. That too with its indigenous ballistic missile. They snatched the armored vehicles of Yemen’s Saudi-backed army and also took away the DF-15 missile that had missed the target. Even Mecca, the holiest city of Islam, is on high alert due to the attack by Houthis. Read the full news…
Source link
[ad_3]
