Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi holds up the holy book of the Quran as he addresses the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, September 19, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

The Noble Qur’an has banned affront to ideas and beliefs..., he reminded, asking, What defines humanity and elevates human values better than God Almighty’s word?

Addressing the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), President Ebrahim Raeisi says the global Americanization project has failed.

The world is irreversibly transitioning into a novel order. The Western domination equation does not work for the world anymore, and the old liberal order that used to serve the interests of imperialists and insatiable capitalists, has been brushed to one side, Raeisi told the session in New York on Tuesday.

The project to Americanize the world has failed, he noted, adding, The Iranian nation prides itself on playing, thanks to the Islamic Revolution, the biggest role in unmasking the imperialists in the East and the West.

Iran’s regional policy

Elsewhere in his remarks, the president noted that Iran had opened up a new chapter of mutually beneficial relations with its neighbors.

The Islamic Republic’s neighborly policy is a benevolent policy for the region. We firmly clasp any hand that is extended towards us in friendship, Raeisi said.

On the Qur’an’s desecration

The president, meanwhile, condemned the desecration earlier this year of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden and Denmark.

The Noble Qur’an has banned affront to ideas and beliefs..., he reminded, asking, What defines humanity and elevates human values better than God Almighty’s word?

This is not the first time that they burn God’s words, and suppose that they have muffled the heaven’s voice forever, he said, adding, But the Qur’anic teachings for the human communities shall never burn, and the flames of insult and distortion shall be no match for the truth.

Raeisi said Islamophobia in its whatever form, whether it is the burning of the Holy Qur’an or banning of the Islamic dress code at schools, amounts to hatemongering.

There is a bigger design behind these instances of hatemongering, and associating them with the ’freedom of speech’ is misleading, the Iranian statesman cautioned.