UN votes to allow Palestinian president to address annual gathering via video link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/19/un-palestinian-president-annual-gathering-video-link

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Trump had refused to grant visas for Palestinian delegation due to attend conference and UN general assembly

The United Nations general assembly has voted to allow the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to address next week’s annual gathering of world leaders next week in New York via video link after Donald Trump said he would not give him a US visa.

The resolution received 145 votes in favour and five votes against, while six countries abstained.

The US has refused to grant visas for as many as 90 members of a Palestinian delegation due to attend both a one-day conference on Monday on a two-state solution as well as the UN general assembly high-level week that starts on Tuesday.

A number of western states including Canada, France, the UK, Belgium and Australia are due to formally recognise Palestine at the conference on Monday. The UK announcement is now expected to come on Sunday with David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and former foreign secretary, taking a lead role. He will emphasise that UK recognition assumes Hamas will play no role in a future Palestinian government.

Abbas had intended to address the UN general assembly to thank those states that had come to recognise a Palestinian right to self determination and to set out his vision for a future Palestine free from the rule of Hamas.

Iran’s nuclear programme will also be in focus at the UN with the apparent breakdown in talks between Tehran and European leaders on the reimposition of UN sanctions upon Iran.

France, the UK and Germany – the three European states calling for the reimposition – claim Iran is failing to re-engage with the US on the future of its nuclear programme after the US-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites. There seems a growing likelihood that the UN sanctions will be reimposed next week, and that it will lead to further calls for a military strike on Iran by Israel, possibly with the US, citing the threat posed by Iran.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is due to address the general assembly on Friday and soon afterwards is set to hold talks with Trump in Washington.

In a move endorsed by France and the UK, the security council on Friday rejected a resolution to permanently lift sanctions on Iran, but Tehran and key European powers still have eight days to try and agree to a delay, including through talks in New York. Iran described the actions of the three European powers as “illegal, unjustified and provocative”.

Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process on 28 August to reimpose UN sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran says it has sent messages to the US to discuss terms for reopening talks, but that it has received no response.