Tehran\u2019s resistance will only increase in the face of US \u201cbullying,\u201d Masoud Pezeshkian has said<\/p>\n
Tehran is open to diplomacy with Washington, but it will not accept the language of force, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said in his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.
\nPezeshkian delivered his address on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump used the same tribune to threaten to \u201cannihilate\u201d Iran if negotiations to settle the conflict between the sides fail. \u201cDo I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?\u201d the US president said.
\nTrump also labeled the authorities in Tehran sponsors of terrorism and called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the \u201ccomplete economic isolation\u201d of Iran until it agrees to sign the deal.
\nPezeshkian, who became the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while their country is at war with the US, insisted that \u201cthe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cIran must be understood by Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,\u201d he stressed.
\nThe US delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall when Pezeshkian began his speech, just as members of the Iranian team did during Trump\u2019s address on Tuesday.
\n\u201cWe are not terrorists,\u201d the Iranian president said. \u201cWe have been the victims of terrorism,\u201d he added, noting the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the American-Israeli attack on February 28 and the missile strike on an elementary school in Minab which killed 175 people, most of them children.
\n\u201cOur innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggression imposed upon our country and we defended ourselves with utmost strength\u2026 We responded, but we did not hit civilian populations,\u201d Pezeshkian said.<\/p>\n
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He insisted on Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is the route for around 20% of global crude oil trade, saying that \u201cwe 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.\u201d
\nOn Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff held unscheduled three-hour talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly, with both sides describing their first contact since June as constructive.
\nIranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said afterwards that the meeting was aimed at conveying Tehran\u2019s terms for peace to the Americans, which include \u201cthe end of the war in all its dimensions, the cessation of American aggressive actions, the naval siege, and the economic war, the release of Iranian assets and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tehran\u2019s resistance will only increase in the face of US \u201cbullying,\u201d Masoud Pezeshkian has said Tehran is open to diplomacy with Washington, but it will not accept the language of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t