World leaders flock to U.N. General Assembly

In his first address to the General Assembly, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called out Israel for its operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

"Israel’s state terrorism in Lebanon cannot go unanswered," he said this afternoon. "Responsibility for all consequences will be borne by those governments who have thwarted all global efforts to end this horrific catastrophe."

He also pressed for new dialogue with the West about nuclear issues.

The Security Council will meet at 6 tomorrow night to discuss the escalation in fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, said Slovenia, president of the 15-member council for September.

Iranian American protesters made their voices heard outside the U.N. about the country's current regime.

More than 500 people packed Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza for protests throughout the day before Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the General Assembly this afternoon.

Majid Sadeghpour, a director with the Organization of Iranian American Communities, called the Iranian regime "the head of the snake of international terrorism" and said he wants a "wholesale regime change."

"Masoud Pezeshkian is a crony of the supreme leader," Sadeghpour said, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Just like his predecessors, his role is to prosecute the orders of the supreme leader, so our message to him is that your time in Iran is limited."

Goli Rastegar, an Iranian nurse and activist, told NBC News that she secretly treated people who were injured during recent protests in Iran. She said she believes she would be imprisoned if she returned to the country.

"We want human rights. We want democracy," Rastegar said, adding that the current regime oppresses people.

"We are scared of them," she said.

Shirin Nariman, who said she was a political prisoner in Iran from 1981 to 1983, said that “more than anything, people want to be done with this regime. They just want to see this regime toppled, and when this regime is changed, everybody can really grow and enjoy life. They can enjoy freedom and democracy in Iran.”

In his first interview with American media, Iran's vice president for strategic affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the country has the right to respond to the Israeli attack that killed Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran "in a way in the time and manner" of its choosing.

"We were asked by the international community to exercise restraint in order to bring about an end to the war in Gaza," Zarif said. "Unfortunately, that promise has never materialized."

Asked about U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear capabilities, Zarif said the Americans "only have themselves to blame."

“If the United States is concerned with the amount of uranium that Iran possesses, it can remedy this by going back and stopping this addiction to sanctions that has only hurt ordinary Iranian citizens," he said.

Pressed about whether Iran will negotiate directly with the U.S. to try to revive a nuclear deal known as the JCPOA, he said, “It wasn’t Iran that left the nuclear deal."

"If the United States is prepared to return to the JCPOA, it should do so, and then there will be room for a lot of new opportunities to talk about things of mutual interest.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the world to address Iran’s and North Korea’s growing cooperation with Russia in the war on Ukraine, warning Security Council members this afternoon that the impact of the alliance would have far-reaching implications.

“The more Russia relies on their support, the more Iran and North Korea extract in return,” he warned. “And the more Putin gives to Pyongyang and Tehran, the more it exacerbates threats to peace and security, not just in Europe, but in the Indo Pacific, in the Middle East, all around the globe.”

Blinken also called out China, a permanent member of the Security Council, as “the top provider of machine tools, microelectronics and other items that Russia is using to rebuild, to restock, to ramp up its war machine and sustain its brutal aggression.”

He also warned against peace proposals “which fail to distinguish between the aggressor and the aggressed and call on all sides to de-escalate,” saying such proposals “would reward Putin’s aggression, allow him to rest, re-arm, re-invade Ukraine, as he has done time and again.”

At a meeting of the Security Council on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for all nations — including China, Brazil and India — to join his second peace summit.

He stressed, “This war can’t be calmed by talks — action is needed.”

“Putin has broken so many international norms and rules that he won’t stop on his own,” Zelenskyy told the Security Council. “Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what’s needed, forcing Russia into peace as the sole aggressor in this war, the sole violator of the U.N. Charter.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back his trip to New York and his address at the General Assembly amid his country's deepening offensive in Lebanon.

Netanyahu is now expected to address the General Assembly on Friday, an official from the Israeli Mission to the U.N. told NBC News. He was originally scheduled to speak Thursday.

Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed nearly 500 people and injured over 1,600 others yesterday, marking the highest death toll in the exchange between Israel and Hezbollah this year and the deadliest day of conflict with Israel since the 34-day war in 2006.

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai said today that women should be in leadership roles everywhere.

"It’s not just about the title. It’s not just about that one position. It’s about the engagement of women," she said in an interview on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Asked about women in the U.S. who feel their rights have been stripped after the fall of Roe v. Wade, she said, “When I think about the activism of women and girls around the world, I think it’s a collective work for equality. And when we achieve progress, we should never take it for granted."

She continued: "We should keep fighting to sustain it, as well, because you never know, and your rights can be taken back. If you are in the United States, it could happen to you. If you are in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria or in Gaza, any other part of the world, it could happen to you, too."

The leaders of Jordan and Turkey used the General Assembly to condemn the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza and criticize world leaders for not stopping the bloodshed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan questioned the response by the Security Council's five permanent members since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel and Israel's retaliation in Gaza.

"International justice cannot be left in the will of five privileged member states of the Security Council, and the most dramatic example to that is the war, the massacre, that has been going on in Gaza for the last 350 days," said Erdoğan, a frequent critic of Israel and longtime supporter of Palestinian rights.