UN General Assembly 2025: Day two brings further condemnation of Israel's war on Gaza
UN General Assembly 2025: Day two brings further condemnation of Israel's war on Gaza
World leaders gathered in New York for day two of the United Nations General Assembly, in a week where Israel's genocide in Gaza and the issue of Palestinian statehood dominated the agenda both among western nations as well as the global south.
With Israel's final foray into Gaza City leading to a full occupation of the enclave, an impending annexation of the occupied West Bank, and the bombing of five other countries in between, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has been blamed for fomenting unrestrained chaos and destruction far beyond the region.
Iran: Israeli aggression, European snapback sanctions 'unlawful'
Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, took aim at Israel's "savage" and "flagrant" attacks on Iran in June, followed by the US bombing of three of its nuclear sites, all while Tehran was engaged in direct negotiations with President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff towards reviving elements of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
"The aerial assaults of the Zionist regime and the United States of America against Iranian cities, homes and infrastructure, precisely at a time when we were treading the path of diplomatic negotiations, constituted a grave betrayal of diplomacy," Pezeshkian told the General Assembly.
"Should we fail to confront such perilous breaches of international norms, these aberrations shall spread to engulf the world," he warned.
"The assault upon nuclear facilities [which are] under safeguards and international supervision, the open attempt to assassinate leaders and duly constituted officials of UN member states, the systematic targeting of journalists and members of the press and the killing of human beings who - solely by the reason of their knowledge and expertise - are converted into military targets... none in the world is secure," he said of Israeli and US extrajudicial operations on Iranian soil.
Pezeshkian then rhetorically asked whether any UN member states would tolerate the same aggression and asked who was behind the destabilisation of the region, referring to Israel.
"It is manifest that the Zionist regime and its sponsors no longer even content themselves with normalisation through political means," he said. "Rather, they impose their presence through naked force, and have styled it 'peace through strength'."
The Iranian president also slammed European states for imposing the "snapback" sanctions outlined in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal. Trump unilaterally exited the deal in 2018, three years after it was signed and celebrated by the P5+1: the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany, all to rein in Iran's nuclear capability.
According to the UN's own nuclear watchdog, Iran was abiding by the limits of nuclear enrichment when Trump pulled out, weakening the agreement.
Europe's sanctions, Pezeshkian said, "set aside good faith".
"They circumvented legal obligations. They sought to portray Iran's lawful remedial measures taken in response to the United States' withdrawal from the JCPOA and to Europe's breach and utter incapacity as a gross violation. They falsely presented themselves as parties of good standing to the agreement, and they disparaged Iran's sincere efforts as insufficient. All of this was in pursuit of nothing less than the destruction of the very JCPOA which they themselves had once held as the foremost achievement of multilateral diplomacy," he added.
Pezeshkian then said that the unlawful measure of withdrawing from the JCPOA, which was met with opposition from members of the UN Security Council, had "no international legitimacy".
"I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek nuclear weapons. This is our belief, based on the edict issued by the Supreme Leader and by religious authorities."
Spain: 'Stop this massacre now'
The king of Spain, Felipe VI, called Israel's actions in Gaza "abhorrent", and demanded that the international community "stop this massacre now". The king is the head of state, but acts largely in a ceremonial role, while Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez runs the government.
Spain recognised a Palestinian state earlier this year along with Ireland, and its left-wing government has been more outspoken on Gaza than the vast majority of its European counterparts, and many Muslim countries as well.
'We cannot remain silent or look away from the devastation, the bombings, including at hospitals, schools and places of refuge'
- King Felipe VI of Spain
"We cannot remain silent or look away from the devastation, the bombings, including at hospitals, schools and places of refuge," Felipe told the General Assembly. "These are abhorrent acts that stand in stark contrast to everything that this forum represents. They offend human conscience and shame the entire international community."
He stressed that his country's criticism of Israel must not be conflated with any kind of discrimination.
"Spain is a nation deeply proud of its Sephardic roots. When we speak to the people of Israel, we speak to a people of brothers and sisters, a people who, when they return to Spain, to Cordova, Toledo, Seville, Barcelona and so many other places, come home," Felipe said.
"This was the spirit behind the 2015 law, which was passed with broad consensus, granting Spanish nationality to descendants of Sephardic Jews, originally from Spain. It is for this reason that it is so difficult for us to understand... we are so pained by the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza."
King Felipe VI then urged member states to act.
"We therefore cry out, we implore, we demand: stop this massacre now. No more deaths in the name of a people that are so wise and ancient, who have suffered so greatly throughout history."
Felipe urged a ceasefire in Gaza be sealed "with guarantees", and that "aid be delivered without delay" to Gaza.
"We demand that the Israeli government fully uphold international humanitarian law throughout Gaza and the West Bank," he said.
At the start of the UN meeting, Spain approved a "total" arms embargo on Israel as part of measures aimed at stopping the genocide in Gaza.
Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said at a news conference that the decree prohibits all exports to Israel of defence material and dual-use products or technologies, and the import of such equipment to Spain.
Cuerpo said the new move would also block requests for the transit of aircraft fuel with potential military applications and bans imports of products originating from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.
