President Ebrahim Raisi has used the occasion of his first United Nations General Assembly speech to criticize US foreign policy and sanctions against Iran.

Participating via video, Raisi said there were “two fateful images” from last year: One was the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol; the other was that of a young Afghan boy falling from a US plane that had just taken off during the departure of US troops from the country after 20 years. The message of the two events, according to Raisi, is that “the imperial system of America is not trustworthy, whether domestically or abroad.”

In the Middle East specifically, Raisi said “imposing a Western identity has failed.” The United States is “not leaving Iraq and Afghanistan … they are being kicked out,” he said, adding it is the US taxpayers — and the people of Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen — who have paid for US policies in the region.

Raisi said “America First” and “America is back” are no longer relevant themes, and if US policymakers had wisdom they’d see that “a people’s perseverance is more powerful than the strength of the superpower.”