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Iran is ready to keep the door to diplomacy open but will not bow to pressure, President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an address to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
Pezeshkian said Iran could not be forced into surrender, declaring that Tehran would continue to defend its position while remaining open to negotiations.
“They have understood that Iran cannot be forced to surrender,” Pezeshkian said. He added that Iran had never been an aggressor or started a war and had consistently shown its willingness to sit at the negotiating table.
“We will never bow our heads or get down on our knees,” he said.
At the beginning of his speech, Pezeshkian referred to remarks made by US President Donald Trump at the UN a day earlier. Trump had described Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism. Responding to the allegation, Pezeshkian said, “We are the victims of terrorism.”
In his UN address, Trump defended US military action against Iran and said Washington had prevented Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He also warned that Iran could be “annihilated” if an agreement was not reached.
Pezeshkian began his address by holding up a photograph of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He later displayed photographs of children killed in attacks in Iran, which he attributed to US and Israeli strikes.
Ahead of Pezeshkian’s address, Iranian officials had said they would use the UN forum to highlight the conflict, including attacks on schools and Khamenei’s death.
On Iran’s nuclear programme, Pezeshkian said the country sought the peaceful use of nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons. He said peaceful nuclear technology was an integral part of Iran’s development.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is intended for peaceful purposes. Western countries, however, have questioned Tehran’s intentions and accused Iran of seeking the capability to develop nuclear weapons.
