Iran military calls Trump UN threats “a sign of strategic desperation”
Pezeshkian opened his remarks by showing photographs of children he said were killed by U.S. and Israeli bombs, UPI reported. He accused the United States and Israel of launching illegal attacks on his country and blamed them for causing global instability. He told the General Assembly that Iran would fight back “until our last breath.”
“The United States president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism,” Pezeshkian said.
“Are we the sources of instability? We only seek to live independently,” Pezeshkian said. “We are the ones who cause instability? Those who are committing terrorism and committing crimes, are they the protectors of peace and stability?”
The sole U.S. representative in the General Assembly hall walked out as Pezeshkian spoke of the war’s civilian casualties, UPI reported.
Earlier this month, the United Nations’ Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran concluded that the United States may have committed war crimes in a March Tomahawk missile strike on a primary school in Minab, Iraq, that killed more than 150 people, including about 120 children, UPI reported.
The New York Times reported that Pezeshkian’s address marked the first time any country had addressed the United Nations while being actively at war with the United States.
Pezeshkian spoke a day after President Donald Trump told the General Assembly that he must make a deal with Iran or “annihilate the Islamic republic.” “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” Trump said.
The Iranian military called Trump’s threats “a sign of strategic desperation.” Pezeshkian’s speech also contradicted Trump’s claim one day earlier that Iran was desperate for a peace deal. Trump told the UN on Tuesday that a deal would come right after the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 3.
Trump did not attend the General Assembly on Wednesday. He was in Washington preparing for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump told reporters that U.S. officials had held a productive meeting with Iranian envoys at the United Nations. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esma Baghaei laid out the conditions Iran had set for diplomacy in a post on X, describing them as “clear and transparent.” Those conditions, according to Baghaei, included: “Cessation of aggressive U.S. actions, including the naval blockade, economic terrorism, ending the war on all fronts, release of Iran’s frozen or restricted assets [and] acceptance of a safe shipping route in the manner agreed upon between the two coastal governments.”
Pezeshkian said Iran would not surrender its right to develop peaceful nuclear technology. “In order to defend our country, we do not seek anyone’s permission,” he said. “We will not bow our heads and give up the right that is inherently ours. We say it clearly: No nuclear weapons and no limitations to new peaceful nuclear technology.” “For our country,” he added, “peaceful nuclear technology is part of our inherent progress.”