At UN, Iran's Pezeshkian Offers Dialogue but Rejects 'Language of Force'

Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that his country is prepared for dialogue with the United States but will not submit to pressure, delivering a rare wartime address in New York.

The speech came a day after US President Donald Trump said he could "annihilate" the Islamic republic.

Addressing the assembly, Pezeshkian called out Trump by name, saying the American president must recognise that Iranians will not yield to force and will make any aggressor regret its actions. He said Tehran is ready to talk, but will not accept what he described as the language of force.

During the address, he held up large photographs of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and of more than 150 Iranian schoolchildren killed in the opening days of the war. "Do you see these children?" he asked, saying they had been bombed and killed with weapons used by the United States and Israel and had done nothing wrong.

On nuclear issues, Pezeshkian said Iran does not accept that nuclear knowledge should be the exclusive preserve of a few countries. He said Tehran does not view nuclear weapons as a source of security, but would not surrender its right to science, industry and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. He framed the position as: neither nuclear weapons nor the deprivation of nuclear knowledge.

Turning to regional security, he said no country in the region can be secure on its own, warning that states would either build security together or endure insecurity together.

He also raised the Strait of Hormuz, arguing it is unacceptable for all parties to benefit from the waterway while its historic guardian is denied freedom of navigation, even in its own waters, because of what he called unjust sanctions. He said Iran would not allow the passage to be used by its enemies to transport weapons, explosives and missiles.