Reporter's Notebook: Call for a free Iran echoes at the United Nations

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — When Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the United Nations General Assembly, he portrayed his nation as the victim of American and Israeli terrorism.

But outside the hall, a thousand protesters chanted that he should be arrested for being a terrorist.

"They are terrorists. They must go!" the crowd repeatedly shouted, waving green, white and red flags of the resistance.

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Demonstrators lined up outside the United Nations General Assembly Monday, Sept. 21, with flags and signs. (Brooke Curto/Fox News Digital)

"The president of Iran speaks and lies over and over again. He is a murderer. He is a terrorist," former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the gathering.

"It is useless to negotiate with them because they are terrorists, murderers, possibly in some ways insane religious maniacs. This would be like trying to reach an agreement with Hitler."

Various former high-level government officials struck the same tone, slamming the radical Islamic regime they say has savagely oppressed and butchered the Iranian people for decades. Estimates say upward of 20,000 protestors who took to the streets of Iran earlier this year demanding freedom have been murdered by the government. Reports of executions of political prisoners continue each week.

Demonstrators lined up outside the United Nations General Assembly Monday, Sept. 21, with flags and signs. (Brooke Curto/Fox News Digital)

"It is time now to free Iran from the mullahs," Retired Lt. General Keith Kellogg, who has served in both Trump administrations, told the gathering, "You have a road map to a secular, non-nuclear Republic of Iran, one that rejoins the free world as a friend."

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Former U.S. Ambassador Marc Ginsberg urged Congress to pass the Maximum Support Act, legislation that would crack down on Iran's resources, confiscate assets of the government and support internet freedom so the Iranian people could organize and have a voice.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks as he holds a picture of Ali Khamenei, former supreme leader of Iran, during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York Sept. 23, 2026. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

"All you have to do, President Trump, is to provide the funding and the support that we need, the tools the Iranian people need," Ginsberg said. "That is the type of help you promised. That is the type of help you can still provide and bring the United States closer to this exit ramp from this war and to accelerate our speed as Iran's arsenal of democracy."

"The people of Iran have rejected every form of dictatorship, whether religious or monarchical," Maryam Rajavi said in a video message to the rally. She is president-elect of the group that sponsored the protest, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

"The voice of protest from Iran's oppressed people is being heard. The voice rejects the continued occupation of Iran's seat by religious fanatics," she said, referring to the regime's membership in the world body.

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Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026.   (MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The rally was held over a two-day period, and the message to the United Nations diplomats remained consistent.

"The regime only responds to firmness and decisiveness. And that's why sanctions and putting pressure on Iran has been the only solution in terms of external pressure," Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI Washington, D.C., office told Fox News.                                                

People hold up posters of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a mourning ceremony for him at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

"The regime is incapable of reform and change. If they were able, they would have done it a long time ago. The real solution for Iran is change by the people of Iran. They can have any talks, any concessions, none of that is going to change the behavior of the regime.   

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"The real Iran is represented by the people of Iran," he added. "The real change has to come from within."

Eric Shawn, a New York-based anchor and senior correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC), joined the network when it launched in 1996. He is currently the co-anchor of FOX News Live. Shawn is also the host of Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa on FOX Nation, FNC's on-demand subscription-based streaming service, which is based upon his extensive reporting into the appearance of notorious Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.