Analysis of President Rouhani’s Speech at the UN General Assembly in 2017: Paul Gee’s Discourse Analysis Approach

Today the UN general assembly plays the role of a tribune to achieve general diplomatic goals, and the leaders of nations take full advantages of this opportunity to communicate with the international media and to negotiate with the officials of other countries. The present research attempts to analyze President Rouhani’s speech at the UN General Assembly in 2017 based on James Paul Gee’s (2014, 2018) discourse analysis approach. The results show that Rouhani has focused on eight central issues in his discourse: (1) Democracy and human rights; (2) Moderation; (3) Cultural and religious diversity; (4) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and response to violation of it; (5) Interaction and negotiation; (6) Iran missile power; (7) Terrorism support by USA; and (8) Iran economical capacity. The main reason to foreground these issues is the current debates in the world and intertextuality with president Trump’s UN speech. These findings also reveal that the most prominent identities in Rouhani’s speech are Iran and Iranian nation and the most important connection is between peace and security on one hand and development and progress of nations on the other. Also, the legal system can be considered as the dominant sign system and knowledge in Rouhani’s speech.