Iran President: We’re Not a Threat

In his first official address to the United Nations, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani assured members that despite a nuclear weapon program, his country poses “absolutely no threat to the world or to the region.” The new president went on to compare U.N. sanctions on Iran—which, he claims, is pursuing a nuclear weapons program for “exclusively peaceful purposes”—as similar to those inflicted on Iraqis under Saddam Hussein. Delivered just hours after allegedly canceling a meeting with Obama, his statements offer hope that a resolution in the standoff will be reached. “We can arrive at a framework to manage our differences,” he said in closing.