Iranian-Americans rally outside UN as Pezeshkian addresses UNGA
Thousands of Iranian Americans and dissidents gather near the United Nations as Iran's president defends his government inside, while opposition voices call for democratic change.
New York, Sept. 24, 2025 — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used his first address to the United Nations General Assembly to accuse the United States and Israel of savage aggression, while thousands of Iranian Americans and dissidents gathered outside the UN to denounce what they called the regime’s use of the international stage for propaganda.
Inside the hall, Pezeshkian framed June’s U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a grave betrayal of diplomacy and a violation of international law. He said the attacks killed civilians, scientists and intellectuals, and insisted Iran never sought weapons of mass destruction. He pressed the line that Tehran’s policy remains one of restraint and insisted that Iran seeks nothing beyond its own sovereignty and regional stability.
Outside the United Nations, the mood was far from the podium. Protesters waving Iranian flags and bearing placards declared that Pezeshkian did not represent the Iranian people. Mitra Samani, a former political prisoner who was held for four years in Tehran’s Evin Prison in the early 1980s, traveled from Los Angeles to attend. “We are here to say that the seat in the U.N. doesn’t belong to those murderous regime agents. It belongs to the people of Iran and their representatives, and we believe that is the National Council of Resistance of Iran,” she told Fox News Digital. Samani said she has attended the rally every year for three decades.
Nasser Sharif, chair of the Iranian American Community of California, said thousands came from 40 states to participate in the protest. “We’re here to support the Iranian Resistance, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and to condemn the regime for its crimes against humanity,” Sharif told Fox News Digital. He added that the movement backs the plan for a free, secular, democratic republic in Iran: “We are asking the U.S. administration to put more pressure on the regime and side with the Iranian people and their desire for democratic change.”
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the U.S. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, called the rally “an impressive show of force.” “Thousands of protesters supported the overthrow of the Iranian regime by the Iranian people, with no need for foreign boots on the ground or providing money and arms,” he said. Jafarzadeh also criticized the UN for giving Tehran a platform despite repeated condemnations of its human rights record, calling it “appalling” to see the world’s leading executioner play any role in any U.N. body dealing with human rights.
Observers cautioned that the regime’s approach at home and on the global stage continues to provoke sharp domestic criticism even as senior leaders in Tehran project hard-line positions on diplomacy and sanctions. Richard Goldberg, senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the U.N.’s willingness to elevate Iran reflects “an alternative reality.” “The U.N. is a lot like the Netflix show ‘Stranger Things.’ You walk through the door, the characters are the same, but it’s a horrifying alternative reality where a tyrannical, women-oppressing, nuclear-weapons-pursuing regime can serve as a leader of human rights, women’s rights and nuclear nonproliferation organizations,” Goldberg said. He added that Pezeshkian arrived in New York “with nothing — no popular support at home and no nuclear weapons program to scare the rest of the world.”
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program, said the speech was “short but not sweet.” He noted that despite the venue, the regime’s internal crackdown and rhetoric remained constant, and he highlighted the irony of Tehran occupying leadership roles in international bodies while pursuing a tough stance against the West. “While Pezeshkian and [Iranian negotiator Abbas] Araghchi were in NYC trying to stall and prevent SnapBack, Khamenei did not mince words when it came to no negotiations with America,” Taleblu said, pointing to the Supreme Leader’s reported hard line.
U.S. officials signaled a cautious approach. Steve Witkoff, Washington’s Middle East envoy, said NASA-style diplomacy aside, Washington sought a permanent resolution to the dispute with Iran and remained open to dialogue that advanced security and regional stability. But Iran’s Foreign Ministry in Tehran rejected such claims as deception. “America’s claim of a desire for diplomacy is nothing but deception; one cannot simultaneously bomb a country while engaging in diplomatic negotiations and speak of diplomacy,” ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told Reuters.
Efrat Lachter, an investigative reporter and war correspondent who has reported from multiple conflict zones, noted the international attention on the UNGA appearance and the protests that accompanied it. The notes accompanying the proceedings highlight how a single diplomatic event can illuminate competing visions of legitimacy and governance in Iran, as well as the global debate over sanctions, diplomacy and human rights.
The episode underscores a long-running tension between Iranian dissident groups seeking regime change through nonmilitary means and Tehran’s insistence on maintaining sovereignty amid international pressure. Supporters of the Iranian Resistance, including groups such as the National Council of Resistance of Iran, say their agenda remains a democratic alternative to the current government. Critics inside and outside the U.N. argue that Tehran’s leadership uses international platforms to project legitimacy while pursuing restrictive policies at home and pursuing influence abroad, a dynamic that continues to provoke friction with Western governments.
Overall, the UNGA address and the surrounding protests illustrate how external pressure and internal dissent intersect in a highly symbolic arena. While Pezeshkian framed U.S. and Israeli actions as aggressions against Iran, dissenters gathered in New York framed the regime as illegitimate and in need of change through peaceful, democratic means. The events also reflect broader questions about sanctions, diplomacy, and the path forward for Iran’s relationship with the international community.