Iran will not ‘bend at the knee’ to US pressure, Pezeshkian tells UN

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that Iran would not surrender to US pressure and defended Tehran’s restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, striking a defiant tone in his first address to the UN General Assembly since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in February. The US delegation walked out as Pezeshkian began his speech. Pezeshkian said sanctions and increased pressure from Washington would only strengthen Iranian resistance. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. “(US President Donald Trump) must know 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 said. His remarks came a day after Trump used his own UN address to threaten Iran with further military action if a peace agreement was not reached, while also expressing optimism that a diplomatic settlement could eventually be achieved. Vital chokepoint Pezeshkian also defended Tehran’s position on the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran would not allow the strategic waterway to be used to facilitate attacks against the country. “We cannot let some have free access and bolster their interests from the waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us,” he said. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of global oil and gas supplies normally passes, has become a central point of contention in efforts to end the conflict. Iran has indicated that it could reopen the waterway if Washington eases military pressure and lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. Pezeshkian insisted that Iran had not initiated the conflict and remained committed to diplomacy despite the fighting. “Iran has never ever been an aggressor, has never started a war and has always shown her commitment to the negotiating table,” he said. “They imposed the war on us, but we proved that we’re not afraid of fighting.” The Iranian president also rejected Trump’s accusations that Tehran had engaged in terrorism, instead portraying Iran as a victim. “We have been the victims of terrorism,” Pezeshkian said, citing the killing of Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and an attack on a school during the war. Pezeshkian displayed photographs of Khamenei and Iranian schoolchildren killed during the conflict as he addressed world leaders. Pezeshkian’s speech came a day after US and Iranian officials held indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, with mediators shuttling between the two delegations. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said the two sides had completed a round of discussions through mediators that he hoped would prove “constructive and promising,” adding that the mediators would continue their work. Iranian state television said Tehran used the meeting to convey its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including the immediate lifting of Washington’s naval blockade, the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to the war on “all resistance fronts.” Read more: Trump says US held ‘very productive’ three-hour meeting with Iran Advertisement Advertisement