Once upon a time, the annual United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting in September offered a venue for successful diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran.

In 2013, for example, then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and began to finalize an agreement that led to a landmark multilateral nuclear deal, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

This week in New York, however, there was mostly kabuki theater, not tangible steps toward ending a conflict that the U.S. and Israel initiated against Iran seven months ago but that neither side seems able to end.

At the podium before the General Assembly on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump – who unilaterally quit the JCPOA in his first term and along with his successor Joe Biden failed to replace it – repeated threats to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if its leaders did not accept his demands. At the same time, his negotiators – Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – seemed satisfied to have briefly exchanged ideas with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, albeit through Qatari intermediaries.

Speaking to journalists and think tankers on Thursday after remarks by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Araghchi said Iran had proposed a plan that would reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz to normal commerce in seven days and then move on to other contentious issues, such as Iran’s nuclear program. The catch – the U.S. would have to meet “certain conditions” drawn from a Pakistani-mediated memorandum of understanding signed by Trump and Pezeshkian in June but violated by both sides within days.

Among those conditions: an end to the retaliatory U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and unfreezing of some Iranian assets. Araghchi added that Iran and Oman have worked out a plan for a new route through the Hormuz chokepoint that they are preparing to present to the International Maritime Organization and to Iran’s Arab neighbors, who have suffered significant economic damage from the war and the closure of Hormuz.

There was no immediate response from the Trump administration to the proposal although Trump officials talked up the indirect diplomatic interaction – the first since the MoU was reached and breached – as an achievement in itself. Oil prices fell slightly, which was perhaps the real object of the talks.

With midterm elections looming, the administration would clearly prefer to find a way to reduce gasoline and diesel prices, which have risen significantly since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. But Trump also fears losing face if he ends the war he started without progress on other issues, especially Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump started the latest war hoping to overthrow the Iranian regime, which was perceived as vulnerable after large popular protests in January, and with the strong encouragement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When the regime quickly replaced its slain supreme leader and other key officials assassinated on the first day of the war, Trump reverted to insisting that the conflict was mostly about keeping Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons. But Iran retaliated for the U.S. and Israeli attacks by closing the Strait of Hormuz, causing an international economic crisis. Iran’s ally, the Yemeni Houthis, added to the pressure by choking off the Bab el Mandab and limiting access to the Red Sea while also attacking Saudi Arabia, a perennial foe. Should a new US-Iran truce be reached, it would likely extend to the Houthis. The June MoU also demands that Israel stop attacking remnants of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where hostilities also continue and Israel occupies a significant slice of territory.

As an analyst who has met six Iranian presidents, it was interesting to compare Pezeshkian to his predecessors. A cardiologist, not a politician or a cleric like those who came before him, Pezeshkian can be emotional but also down to earth and practical.

In New York for only three days on his third trip to UNGA since his 2024 election, he met with several foreign counterparts, gave briefings to selected journalists and think tankers, and participated in two network interviews – with NBC and Fox – in which he largely repeated comments from a combative UN speech. He excoriated the Trump administration for starting the war but also expressed openness to negotiations despite the U.S. repeatedly attacking Iran in the midst of prior talks.

The Iranian leader told Fox that Iran had no intention to seek nuclear weapons and would cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and down blend a large stockpile of highly enriched uranium – but not under U.S. economic pressure. Nearly 1000 pounds of highly enriched uranium lie buried under rubble from U.S. and Israeli attacks in 2025.

“Iran must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations but will not accept the language of force,” Pezeshkian said in his speech to the General Assembly. He also complained of “double standards” in which “Israel kills” but “Iran gets sanctioned,” and Israel has an undeclared nuclear arsenal, but Iran is expected to permit inspections of its nuclear facilities despite the failure of the IAEA to condemn the U.S. and Israeli attacks on those sites.

Pezeshkian also held up photos of people killed by the war, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and schoolgirls who died when their school was singled out by artificial intelligence. The target was apparently not rechecked by actual humans whose role in mitigating civilian casualties has been marginalized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Iranian president has conceded that the war and blockade have significantly damaged the Iranian economy but to audiences in New York, he insisted that Iran will survive and find a way to provide for its 90 million population.

Pezeshkian, a member of Iran’s reform camp who was elected after the death of his hardline predecessor in a helicopter crash, said to analysts last year that he was focused on narrowing societal differences that were undermining cohesion.

It remains unclear if the latest war pushes Iranian society to coalesce or ultimately deepens differences over the nature of the system. Iranians may no longer believe that Trump is coming to help them, as he promised before the war. But it will be hard to end crises and establish a more stable reality as long as Iran remains estranged from the United States and pays a high price for its stubborn advocacy of anti-U.S. and anti-Israel policies.