File photo: Pezeshkian waves to media and officials as he boards his plane while leaving Mehrabad airport for New York to attend the UN General Assembly, in Tehran, Iran
They will be allowed to travel between their Manhattan hotel and the UN headquarters but cannot freely move around New York without permission, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. But Pezeshkian and his delegation will face strict restrictions during their stay in the US.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is set to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, giving Tehran a rare opportunity to make its case before the international community even as Iran and the United States remain locked in a nearly seven-month-old war.
Trump has also said he remains open to meeting Pezeshkian in New York. US President Donald Trump, who is also scheduled to address the UN, has defended military action against Iran by accusing Tehran of being the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and insisting that it must not develop nuclear weapons.
Since 2024, the State Department has restricted the Iranian delegation’s movement largely to the route between the airport, the Millennium Hilton hotel and UN headquarters, according to WSJ. The hotel has hosted Iranian officials repeatedly since 2013. The Trump administration also introduced tighter restrictions last year, including requiring State Department permission for Iranian delegates to shop at certain stores or purchase luxury goods.
The Iranian president is also seeking meetings with analysts from US and European think tanks while in New York, people familiar with the matter told WSJ. Pezeshkian is expected to use his UN address on Wednesday to argue that Iran has been the victim of aggression and that its actions have been in self-defence, Richard Gowan, programme director for global issues and institutions at the International Crisis Group, told WSJ.