As Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivered his first address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, accusing the United States and Israel of «savage aggression,» thousands of Iranian Americans and dissidents massed outside the building to denounce what they called the hypocrisy of the UN for giving Tehran’s rulers a platform.

Inside the hall, Pezeshkian claimed June’s U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities amounted to a «grave betrayal of diplomacy» and a violation of international law. He said the attacks killed civilians, scientists and intellectuals, while insisting Iran «never sought weapons of mass destruction.»

Outside the U.N., however, the message was very different. Protesters waving Iranian flags and holding placards declared that Pezeshkian did not represent the Iranian people.

IRAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES US OF ‘GRAVE BETRAYAL’ WITH NUCLEAR STRIKES IN UNGA SPEECH

Mitra Samani, a former political prisoner held for four years in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison in the early 1980s, traveled from Los Angeles to attend. «We are here to say that the seat in the U.N. doesn’t belong to those murderous regime agents. It belongs to the people of Iran and their representatives, and we believe that is the National Council of Resistance of Iran,» she told Fox News Digital.

Samani said she has attended the rally every year for three decades. «I promised myself when I was released from that dungeon that I would be the voice of my friends that I lost. That’s why I’m here every year.»

Nasser Sharif, chair of the Iranian American Community of California, said thousands came from 40 states to participate in the protest. «We’re here to support the Iranian Resistance, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and to condemn the regime for its crimes against humanity,» Sharif told Fox News Digital.

Protesters rally outside UN during Iran President Pezeshkian’s speech at 2025 UNGA. (Alireza Jafarzadeh)

He added that the movement backs the plan for a free, secular, democratic republic in Iran: «We are asking the U.S. administration to put more pressure on the regime and side with the Iranian people and their desire for democratic change.»

Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the U.S. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, called the rally «an impressive show of force.»

«Thousands of protesters supported the overthrow of the Iranian regime by the Iranian people, with no need for foreign boots on the ground or providing money and arms,» he said.

IRAN REGIME ESCALATES REPRESSION TOWARD ‘NORTH KOREA-STYLE MODEL OF ISOLATION AND CONTROL’

Members of the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) and supporters of the Iranian Resistance gather at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza for the «2025 Free Iran NY Rally» on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Jafarzadeh also criticized the UN for giving Tehran a platform despite repeated condemnations of its human rights record. «It is appalling to see the world’s leading executioner play any role in any U.N. body dealing with human rights. It is like appointing a serial killer as a judge to rule on his own murders.»

Richard Goldberg, senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the UN’s willingness to elevate Iran reflects «an alternative reality.»

«The U.N. is a lot like the Netflix show ‘Stranger Things.’ You walk through the door, the characters are the same, but it’s a horrifying alternative reality where a tyrannical, women-oppressing, nuclear-weapons-pursuing regime can serve as a leader of human rights, women’s rights and nuclear nonproliferation organizations,» Goldberg said.

He added that Pezeshkian arrived in New York «with nothing — no popular support at home and no nuclear weapons program to scare the rest of the world,» while facing looming U.N. sanctions that could destabilize Iran’s economy.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of FDD’s Iran program, said the speech was «short but not sweet.»

Protesters rally outside UN during Iran President Pezeshkian’s speech at 2025 UNGA. (Alireza Jafarzadeh)

«Sadly, these things have come to be expected from the U.N. when it comes to Iran. While the fact-finding mission on Iran languishes due to lack of funding and staff, the regime continues to be offered a platform to spew its invective and propaganda,» he told Fox News Digital.

Taleblu highlighted the irony of Iran’s leadership roles in international organizations: «Can there be something more ironic than the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has long been a proliferator and seeking a nuclear weapon, being a vice president of the IAEA?»

He added that Pezeshkian’s remarks were overshadowed by recent comments from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. «While Pezeshkian and [Iranian negotiator Abbas] Araghchi were in NYC trying to stall and prevent SnapBack, Khamenei did not mince words when it came to no negotiations with America. ‘Supreme Leader’ is a title meant to be taken rather literally after all.»

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday that Washington was talking to Iran and that the U.S. had a «desire» to realize a permanent solution to the dispute. But Iran’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters Thursday that the U.S. saying it wanted a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program was a «deception.»

«America’s claim of a desire for diplomacy is nothing but deception and blatant contradiction; one cannot simultaneously bomb a country while engaging in diplomatic negotiations and speak of diplomacy,» ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Following an anti-ICE shooting in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that there will be an increase in security at its field offices.

Joshua Jahn, who meticulously planned the ambush, killed himself after killing one detainee and injuring two others while firing «indiscriminately» at the ICE facility from a rooftop, as well as at a van where the victims were harmed, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

Jahn then killed himself after the shooting and the FBI later said that a bullet with «ANTI-ICE» written on it was located at the scene of the crime.

«FBI Dallas and FBI HQ have been working 24/7 to seize devices, exploit data, and process writings obtained on location and in the subject’s person/residence/bedroom,» FBI Director Kash Patel posted to X on Thursday regarding the Dallas incident. «One of the handwritten notes recovered read, ‘Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ’is there a sniper with AP [armor-piercing] rounds on that roof?’

ICE ATTACK IN DALLAS: JOSHUA JAHN IDENTIFIED IN LATEST VIOLENCE AGAINST AGENCY AS DANGEROUS PATTERN GROWS

«In light of the horrific shooting that was motivated by hatred for ICE and the other unprecedented acts of violence against ICE law enforcement, including bomb threats, cars being used a weapons, rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at officers, and doxing online of officers’ families, DHS will immediately begin increasing security at ICE facilities across the country. Our ICE officers are facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against them,» DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

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«For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed. This shooting must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences,» she continued, saying the comparisons to the Nazi Gestapo and «slave patrols» can have real-world impacts for the worse.

Conservative immigration experts said the increase in security is ultimately the right call.

DALLAS ICE SHOOTING INJURES MEXICAN NATIONAL, SPARKING ‘CONCERN’ FROM MEXICO

The Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas where a police officer was shot in the neck and several ICE officers were shot at on July 4, 2025. (KDFW)

«DHS has to increase security and come down hard on anyone threatening immigration officers or federal facilities.  This situation is truly disturbing,» Jessica M. Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital in an email.

«Of course the shooter is responsible for this terrible act, but we cannot ignore the rhetoric and disinformation being put out there by opponents of immigration enforcement that is contributing to a hysterical demonization of the people who enforce the laws,» she added.

Concerns about violence against ICE come after numerous protests against the agency throughout the country, as the Trump administration continues to carry out deportations of those in the United States illegally.

MANGIONE, CATHOLIC CHURCH SHOOTER, CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTER, ICE SHOOTER ALL USED ENGRAVED BULLETS

Law enforcement agents look around the roof of a building near the scene of a shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP/Julio Cortez)

«The Dallas shooting is another tragic reminder of the real-world consequences of reckless, anti-ICE rhetoric from the left,» RJ Hauman, a Dallas-based visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said.

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«ICE agents and support staff face escalating threats simply for enforcing the law. Strengthening security at ICE facilities is the right move — it protects employees, visitors, and detainees alike, just as ICE works every day to protect all of us. Leaders across the spectrum should stand with them in this effort,» he continued.»

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.