Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has rejected calls for Tehran to surrender under pressure from the United States and Israel, saying his country remains open to diplomacy to end the conflict. According to the BBC, Pezeshkian made the remarks while addressing the United Nations General Assembly, where he responded to US……
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has rejected calls for Tehran to surrender under pressure from the United States and Israel, saying his country remains open to diplomacy to end the conflict.
According to the BBC, Pezeshkian made the remarks while addressing the United Nations General Assembly, where he responded to US President Donald Trump’s threat to “annihilate” Iran if an agreement is not reached.
Pezeshkian said Tehran would resist increased pressure and sanctions, declaring that Iran would never “bend the knee”.
“The resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying,” he told the UN.
He also made clear that any agreement would have to address the US blockade restricting Iranian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy supplies.
“It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access,” he said.
There was no immediate response from the US delegation, which left the UN chamber at the beginning of Pezeshkian’s speech.
“The US president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism,” the Iranian leader said.
During his address, Pezeshkian displayed a photograph of Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who Iranian authorities say was killed in a strike on his residence during the joint US-Israeli attack in late February.
Read Also: US Raises Saudi Arabia Travel Advisory Over Iran Missile, Drone Threat
He also showed photographs of civilians whom Iranian authorities say were among more than 175 people, including around two-thirds children, killed in strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd.
The US has denied carrying out the strike on Lamerd and said it is still investigating the incident in Minab.
“Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed on our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength,” Pezeshkian said.
The diplomatic tensions were further underscored on Wednesday when an attack on a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz killed an Indian sailor, according to Agence France-Presse, citing Omani and Indian officials.
India’s foreign ministry condemned the incident and called for unrestricted passage through the strategic waterway to resume.
The conflict escalated in February after Iran responded to a major US-Israeli air campaign with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and neighbouring Gulf states hosting US military facilities.
Tehran also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz by attacking commercial vessels operating in the Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. The United States subsequently imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and ships in April.
A preliminary agreement between Washington and Tehran in June was intended to end the conflict and reopen the waterway, but the arrangement collapsed weeks later after attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade.
Iran has sought to maintain some control over the strait and collect fees from vessels using the waterway, a proposal rejected by the United States.
Trump had told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that he faced a “big decision” between negotiating an agreement that would allow Iran to rebuild and moving to “annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly”.
Pezeshkian described the threat as “a sign of a bullying mentality”.
“[Trump] must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend the knee,” he said.
Despite his criticism, Pezeshkian said Tehran remained prepared to negotiate.
“We are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he said.
The Iranian president also reiterated that the US blockade would have to be lifted as part of any agreement.
“It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access to shipping through this waterway,” he said.
Pezeshkian further maintained that Iran would retain its right to a civilian nuclear programme while rejecting the development of nuclear weapons.
“We say it clearly: no nuclear weapons and no limitations on peaceful nuclear technology.”
Trump, however, said the conflict had prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and called on its leaders to “relinquish their nuclear ambitions”.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff held indirect discussions in New York, with Qatari officials facilitating the talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Witkoff said he hoped the discussions, the first since June, would “prove constructive and promising”, while indicating that mediators would continue their efforts.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai, however, described the discussions as “not anything new”, saying Araghchi had maintained Tehran’s demands, including an end to the US blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.
