Pezeshkian tells UN Iran will pursue diplomacy but not surrender
Iran’s president said his country had not started the war and displayed photographs of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and children he said were killed in US strikes.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly that Iran had not started the conflict with the United States and Israel, and remained committed to negotiations. It was his first address to the assembly since the conflict began, France 24 reported.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not surrender but believed diplomacy could help end the war. He described Iran as a victim of terrorism, disputing US President Donald Trump’s earlier accusation that Tehran was responsible for such crimes.
He said Iran’s supreme leader had been assassinated without legal grounds and that a school had been bombed. At the start of his address, he held up photographs of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and more than 150 schoolchildren he said were killed in US missile strikes. The supplied account does not independently verify those claims.
The address followed Trump’s speech to the assembly the previous day, in which he threatened to “annihilate” Iran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal with Tehran would require sustained work and that Trump also had military options.
US and Iranian officials held Qatar-mediated discussions in New York on 23 September, according to background information supplied with the report. No agreement or breakthrough was reported.
