Iran’s president slams US in first speech to UN as leader

By AYA BATRAWY
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s new president slammed U.S. sanctions imposed on his nation as a mechanism of war. President Ebrahim Raisi addressed the United Nations leaders’ meeting remotely from Iran, and he packed a full slate of direct criticism of the United States into his first U.N. address as a head of state. Although some 100 leaders and senior officials are attending the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York this week, Raisi delivered his remarks from Tehran remotely as some have also chosen to do. Raisi, sworn in last month after an election, is a conservative cleric and former judiciary chief who is close to Iran’s Supreme Leader.