Iran will not surrender in its war with the United States but remains committed to diplomacy to end the conflict, President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly.
The US delegation walked out as Mr Pezeshkian began speaking. The US mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Addressing representatives of the 193-member General Assembly, the Iranian president said his country had acted only in self-defence after attacks by the US and Israel.
“Yes they did hit us but we did not bend the knee,” Mr Pezeshkian said. “We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists.”
He accused the US of attacking civilian targets during the early stages of the conflict, including a girls’ school and a sports complex in southern Iran. Mr Pezeshkian held up photographs of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 150 schoolchildren he said had been killed during the first days of the war.
“Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us,” he said.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war, has become a central point of tension between Tehran and Washington.
“It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access to shipping through this waterway,” Mr Pezeshkian said. “The permanent deployment of hostile fleets and the expansion of the war will not lead to peace.”
His address came a day after US President Donald Trump used his own speech to defend the conflict, saying he had prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and warning that he could “annihilate the Islamic Republic” if no agreement was reached.
Mr Trump said his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, had held talks lasting about three hours with Iranian officials on the sidelines of the UN gathering. He gave few details of the discussions but described the meeting as “very good”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said Mr Trump was open to meeting Mr Pezeshkian while the Iranian president was in New York.
