Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has told the United Nations that his country will not surrender to American pressure, delivering a defiant speech a day after Donald Trump renewed his threat to “annihilate” Iran.
Mr Pezeshkian said Tehran remained ready to return to negotiations, but insisted that sanctions, military action and economic pressure would only strengthen Iranian resistance.
“They have learned that Iran cannot be made to surrender,” he said. “He [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 at the knee.”
The address at the UN General Assembly in New York was described as the first in the organisation’s 81-year history by a foreign leader whose country was at war with the United States.
Holding up photographs of Iran’s assassinated supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and children killed in missile strikes, Mr Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of responsibility for the deaths.
“I come from an Iran where, in truth, they bombed a school,” he said. “You see these children? These children perished under bombs, with weapons used by the United States and Israel. They were innocent.”
The United States has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school on the first day of the war, in which about 120 children and dozens of adults were killed. Reports by US news organisations have cited internal investigations said to have confirmed American responsibility.
Mr Pezeshkian also defended Iran’s right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme, repeating Tehran’s position that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has faced scrutiny over a history of secret nuclear sites and uranium enrichment facilities, as well as restrictions on weapons inspectors.
He argued that Israel, rather than Iran, should be subjected to international scrutiny, accusing it of assassinations and genocide.
“The nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspector is in Iran. Israel kills, but Iran is subject to sanctions. This is a true tragedy,” he said.
A lone American delegate walked out shortly after the Iranian president began speaking. Iran’s delegation, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, had been authorised by the US to attend, although some proposed members were refused visas.
Mr Pezeshkian also used the speech to assert Iran’s claim over the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important shipping route between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.
“We cannot let some have free access and gain their interest from a waterway while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us,” he said. “They close access for us to our own waterway … we will not succumb to that.”
His remarks came after Mr Trump told the UN that Iran would ultimately agree to a deal, while suggesting Tehran was delaying negotiations in order to increase political pressure on his administration through higher oil and petrol prices.
Talks between the two countries have so far failed to produce a lasting settlement, despite a short-lived memorandum of understanding signed in June. Brent crude was trading at just above 100 US dollars a barrel on Wednesday.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have recently targeted Saudi Arabian energy infrastructure and the Bab al-Mandab strait, another major oil shipping route. The attacks, alongside disruption linked to the war in Ukraine, have contributed to rising energy prices.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to address the United Nations on Thursday before returning immediately to Israel.
