Opinions are divided over the absence of President Bola Tinubu at this year’s UNGA, making it three consecutive times, since assuming the leadership of Africa’s most populous nation.
While others say his absence does not make any significant issue, others say Nigerians deserve to know why president Tinubu has failed to grace the event since assumption.
Their concerns are reinforced as US State department approved visas for a core Iranian delegation, including president Masoud Pezeshkian and foreign minister Abbas Araqhchi, even when bith coylunyries are presently at war
More intriguing is the fact that the US was fulfilling the host-coutry’s obligations under the 1947 UN Headwyarters Agreement in approving visas for its ‘enemies’.
Some analysts have berated some government apologists who have not seen anything wrong in the absence of the president, then, questioning the large delegation, regarding the development as ‘wasteful.’
But, Iran’s President Pezeshkian on Tuesday vowed to “firmly defend” his country’s positions, as he departed for New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
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“We emerged with our heads held high, and this is a source of dignity and pride for all of us. Therefore, we will firmly defend our positions in international forums,” he said before flying out of Iran, according to footage broadcast by state television.
The president is due to speak at the UN meeting on Wednesday.
“We will make the best possible use of this opportunity to convey Iran’s plight to the international community. We will firmly tell our adversaries that, despite all the unfairness and injustices, the Iranian people have stood their ground,” he said.
Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to set foot on American soil since the start of the Middle East war, which began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The United States has approved the UN visits for part of the Iranian delegation despite the war, but the group will be subject to movement restrictions, according to the US State Department.
The Iranian president’s communications team has not been authorised to travel, however, having been denied visas.
Their barring was described as “hostile” by Iranian presidential spokesman Habibollah Abbassi, according to local media.
The reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the conflict between Tehran and Washington.
Traffic in the vital maritime corridor, through which one-fifth of the world’s hydrocarbons passed before the war, has been severely disrupted, with Iran firing on commercial ships and demanding it approve passage.
In response, the United States is maintaining a counterblockade of Iranian ports while upping economic pressure on Iran.
AFP