UN General Assembly
2009

water, and energy and the environment. Those innovations in my country and in many others offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise. However, if the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history could be reversed for a time and, like the belated victory over the Nazis, the forces of progress and freedom prevail only after a horrific toll of blood and fortune has been exacted from mankind. That is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fundamentalism and the weapons of mass destruction. The most urgent challenge facing this body today is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Are the Members of the United Nations up to that challenge? Will the international community confront a despotism that terrorizes its own people as they bravely stand up for freedom? Will it take action against the dictators who stole an election in broad daylight and then gunned down Iranian protesters, who died on the sidewalks and in the streets