Rouhani Will Address UNGA on Sept. 25

President Hassan Rouhani will travel to New York later this month to attend the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, amid heightened tensions with the US over its pullout from the Iran nuclear deal in May.

Announcing the news to reporters on Wednesday, Rouhani’s chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi said, “Like in the previous years, the president is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly.”

Vaezi ruled out the possibility of a meeting between Rouhani and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the global gathering, IRNA reported.

Rouhani refused several requests from the Trump White House for private meetings when he was attending UNGA last year in New York.

Rouhani is expected to address the UN General Assembly on Sept. 25.

The US, which holds the council presidency for September, has unsuccessfully pushed the Security Council to call out Iran.

The US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley has regularly attacked Iran for its role in supporting anti-US resistance groups in the region.

She said on Tuesday Trump will chair a UN Security Council meeting on Iran to spotlight the alleged “violations of international law” by the Tehran government on Sept. 26 during the annual gathering of world leaders, Reuters reported.

Diplomats said Iran could request to speak at the meeting.

Haley said the US would not object to Rouhani speaking.

“The country can speak if there is a Security Council meeting. So I think that would be up to [Rouhani] as to whether he would want to speak; but, I believe that, according to the rules, he would have that right.”

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said the Iran meeting should focus on the implementation of a UN resolution, adopted to underpin the 2015 Iran nuclear accord.

“We very much hope that there will be views voiced in connection with the US withdrawal” from the agreement, Polyanskiy told the council.