President Barack Obama will tell the United Nations Tuesday that the United States will “do what we must” to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, according to excerpts from his speech.
He also planned to address the Middle East turmoil sparked by an offensive anti-Islam Internet video and the killing of the US ambassador to Libya in a wide-ranging speech just six weeks before the November 6 US election.
“Make no mistake: a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained. It would threaten the elimination of Israel, the security of Gulf nations, and the stability of the global economy,” Obama was to tell the UN General Assembly, according to speech excerpts released by the White House. “That is why a coalition of countries is holding the Iranian government accountable. And that is why the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” Obama also planned to address the deadly protests that erupted across the Middle East in response to an amateurish American-made blasphemous Internet video.
“Today, we must affirm that our future will be determined by people like Chris Stevens, and not by his killers,” he says, referring to the US envoy killed with three other Americans in an attack on the Benghazi consulate.
“Today, we must declare that this violence and intolerance has no place among our United Nations.”