Protest against Iranian government outside UN headquarters in New York

Hundreds of Iranian Americans and supporters on Tuesday rallied outside the United Nations headquarters in New York where the General Assembly is underway.

They were showing their support for the country’s France-based opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its president-elect Maryam Rajavi.

Financial analyst Fereshteh Dameshfar said she knows that the United States’ war in Iran was not going to help get rid of the regime.

"This is only the people they have to do it. And I personally, I believe only with the support of NCRI and supporting Maryam Rajavi that it's going to get rid of the government of Iran," she said.

For mechanical engineer, Jafar Sadaghi, attacks that kill ordinary Iranians is not going to solve the problem.

“We want from all countries that they support National Council of Resistance and the Iranian people for bringing end to, leave to Iranian people to overthrow the government of Iran," he said.

Retired US general and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, Wesley Clark, said problems in the Middle East would not be resolved by outside force.

"It's going to have to be the people of Iran themselves who change their own government,” he said.

“It's a very difficult thing to do and certainly here at the United Nations there should be people in the UN who support this [the NCRI] as a provisional government."

The protests took place as US President Donald Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran in his speech to the General Assembly.

“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild, and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” he asked.

“Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

His comments came as top US and Iranian officials held talks for the first time in months on the sidles of the UN gathering, mediated by Qatar, with no breakthrough reported.

Tehran’s military has dismissed Trump’s threat, warning it was ready to respond with “crushing” attacks against the US and Israel.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian is due to address the Assembly on Wednesday.