Barack Obama and United Nations focus on Syria’s chemical weapons and Iran’s nuclear issue

Iran and the crisis in Syria is dominating the agenda at the United Nations.
New Iranian president Hasan Rouhani’s appearance at the meeting in New York has pushed the country’s nuclear issue towards the top of the billing.
This has been helped by the moderate cleric’s insistence that Iran does not want to build a nuclear bomb.
US President Barack Obama welcomed Rouhani’s comments, saying they were a basis for a future agreement.
He said: “The roadblocks may prove to be too great, but I firmly believe the diplomatic path must be tested.
“Iran’s genuine commitment to go down a different path will be good for the region and the world.”
Meanwhile UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon opened the annual meeting of the General Assembly by calling on Syria to “fully and quickly honour” agreements to handover its chemical weapons.
Obama then called on the UN to take strong action over Syria’s promise to destroy its chemical weapons.
He said: “If we cannot agree even on this (enforcing Assad’s promise) then it will show that the United Nations is incapable of enforcing the most basic of international laws. On the other hand if we succeed, it will send a powerful message that the use of chemical weapons has no place in the 21st century, and that this body means what it says.”