October 05, 2018
President Rohani spoke to the UN General Assembly, giving a statement that was almost entirely a diatribe against Donald Trump and the US.
Rohani opened by denouncing unnamed “rulers in the world” who pursue their interests by “the fomenting of extremist nationalism and racism and through xenophobic tendencies resembling a Nazi disposition.”
Rohani took on Trump for his opposition to a multinational approach to world problems. “Confronting multilateralism is not a sign of strength, rather it is a symptom of the weakness of intellect. It betrays an inability in understanding a complex and interconnected world.”
He said, “The government of the United States—at least the current administration—seems determined to render all international institutions ineffectual.” That criticism is widely shared by many in the United States and elsewhere around the world.
But Rohani went far beyond that and embraced the kind of rhetoric often heard from President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad. “The United States’ understanding of international relations is authoritarian,” Rohani said, specifically indicting the United States, not Trump. “In its estimation, might makes right. Its understanding of power, not of legal and legitimate authority, is reflected in bullying and imposition.”
Rohani made a reference to the attack on a military parade in Ahvaz two days before his speech at the UN. He said the killers “shamelessly accepted responsibility from a number of Western capitals for their heinous crime in interviews with some Western-based broadcasting outfits that are financed by petrodollars.” It wasn’t clear what he was talking about. The five terrorists were all killed at the scene and gave no interviews.
