From Wartime Shelters to the UN Stage: Iran’s Leaders Navigate High-Stakes Diplomacy in New York

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN headquarters in New York City on Wednesday. Seven months after surviving a US-coordinated Israeli airstrike that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top diplomat walked the streets of Manhattan this week under the protection of the US Secret Service.

As leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly, Abbas Araghchi and Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, seized the opportunity to make their case to the world, casting the Islamic Republic as a country abiding by international law against "bullies" who are not. Araghchi met with more than two dozen diplomats, including counterparts from more than ten European countries and even Jordan’s foreign minister, whose country Iran had attacked. More importantly, he held a rare direct meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff and told western media that Iran had put a new offer on the table.

In his address to the UN gathering, Pezeshkian said the Islamic Republic would never “bow down” – a line that resonated with hardliners at home, some of whom had opposed the trip during a period when wartime sanctions and a US naval blockade are choking Iran’s economy. On Thursday, Pezeshkian sat with Western journalists and think-tank analysts at a New York hotel to outline his government’s perspective, marking a stark contrast to the morning of February 28, when he was feared dead after disappearing for hours amid waves of US-Israeli strikes.

While Iran’s turns at the United Nations General Assembly have drawn attention in past decades, this year’s visit became the central event under the shadow of war. Tehran’s officials planned the visit strategically, mindful of global and domestic scrutiny. Hardliners in Iran initially criticized Pezeshkian and Araghchi’s diplomatic overtures to Washington, viewing a decision to visit the nation actively waging war against them as a sign of surrender. Araghchi faced particular backlash from Iran’s conservative lawmakers for meeting Witkoff.

Despite the high risk of a political misstep, Iranian officials executed a visit that played well at home, revived a diplomatic track with their adversary, delivered a message of survival to the international community, and communicated directly with the American public. Pezeshkian outlined Iran’s demands from the UN podium and held bilateral meetings with his counterparts. In contrast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who co-launched the war on Iran, faced protests on the streets of New York and a mass walkout of UN delegates during his speech.

Araghchi’s meeting with Witkoff to restart talks represented an effort to break three months of diplomatic deadlock. However, US officials quickly cautioned that reaching an agreement would require time. "If there’s going to be a deal with Iran…it’s going to involve a lot of hard work over a period of time, and it will engage and involve mediators as well," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters this week.

Iran stated it had presented a proposal to the US aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for Washington lifting its economic blockade of Iran and restarting progress toward a "final deal." Tehran’s new offer requires Washington to meet specific conditions within seven days, Araghchi told reporters. While declining to elaborate on the exact conditions, he stated they were "nothing more" than what was included in the Memorandum of Understanding, an agreement signed between both parties in June that swiftly collapsed.

Obstacles remain even as a swift reopening of the strait and a resumption of nuclear talks could tempt Donald Trump. Iran’s conditions include the US waiving sanctions on oil sales, lifting the naval blockade, and ending other economic penalties imposed after the June agreement broke down, according to a regional source familiar with the talks.

In the new proposal, Iran expects Washington to take the initial steps, an expert noted. "The offer now is essentially the same bargain, but with a very different sequence," Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., told CNN. "The US takes concrete steps first, and only then does Iran ease its pressure over Hormuz."

Under the June deal, the US had agreed to lift a naval blockade, end regime sanctions, establish a $300 billion reconstruction fund, and accept the Islamic Republic’s role in managing the narrow waterway through which a fifth of global oil passes daily. The agreement collapsed after the Trump administration accused Tehran of firing on ships in the Hormuz, while Iran accused Washington of launching strikes and refusing to release frozen foreign bank funds.

"The central message from Pezeshkian’s New York trip is that Iran genuinely wants a deal, but it is no longer willing to strike a deal and de-escalate first and simply trust that Washington will follow through," Toossi added. Iran has also pursued a separate diplomatic track with Oman regarding waterway management. It remains uncertain whether this framework or past demands for future payment have been presented to the Trump administration, while an attempt to enlist neighboring Arab states failed last week.

As both sides remain locked in a contest of endurance, the question persists regarding how long Tehran's diplomatic momentum will last. "They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election," Trump remarked during his UN speech. "What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already and won in a landslide."