Iran will 'never bend at the knee', Pezeshkian tells UN in defiant wartime address

Iran's president said Wednesday that his people have been “victims of terrorism” by the United States, delivering a rare wartime speech at UN General Assembly a day after President Donald Trump said he could “annihilate” the Islamic republic.

In a defiant speech, President Masoud Pezeshkian held up large photos of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the more than 150 school Iranian children killed on the first days of the war.

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us.”

Toward the end of his speech, Pezeshkian called out Trump by name.

“It must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he said.

"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," he added.

He also said one thing that was measurably false: "We did not hit civilian populations.” Mariners and migrant workers in the region have been among the civilians killed in Iran's attacks since the war began.

Arriving in New York under heavy security and scrutiny, Pezeshkian – who, within Iran's political landscape, is considered a moderate politician – addressed world leaders a day after Trump used the same stage to suggest he may “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal isn't reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Hours later, Trump told reporters that his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met for about three hours with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering. But he offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the substance of the exchange.

“It was a very good meeting,” Trump said. The president later added that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it's something.” Also on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump is open to meeting with Pezeshkian while he's in New York.

But Tehran downplayed Tuesday's unscheduled exchange, which were the first indirect talks between US and Iranian officials since a June ceasefire unraveled. Esmail Baghaei, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, maintained the country's negotiating position in talks with US officials, demanding that Washington end its blockade of Iranian ports and release frozen Iranian assets,

Baghaei said the talks – conducted indirectly through Qatari mediators – were “not anything new.”

Pezeshkian's address elaborated on where Tehran stands as more than a year of start-stop negotiations between the two longtime adversaries have failed to produce a sustainable solution. His speech came as intermittent attacks continued in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran's coast, where commercial shipping remained below prewar levels.

His address last year came months after the 12-day Israel-Iran war that saw the assassination of many of the Islamic Republic's highest military and political leaders and once again broke down weeks of negotiations with the United States.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you all bore witness that this past June, my country was subjected to a savage aggression and flagrant contravention of the most elementary principles of international law,” Pezeshkian said at the time.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)