Iran Will Not Be Bullied, President Says in Defiant U.N. Speech

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Iran Will Not Be Bullied, President Says in Defiant U.N. Speech

President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would not give up its civilian nuclear program, but left the door opened for diplomacy with the United States.

Iran’s president delivered a defiant speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, vowing his country would defend itself until “its last breath” and would not give up its civilian nuclear program. At the same time, he left the door open for negotiations with the United States.

Directly addressing President Trump, who on Tuesday called Iran a leading sponsor of terrorism and threatened to annihilate it unless a deal was struck, President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would not succumb to bullying.

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

Iran is the first country to have a head of government attend the General Assembly in New York while that nation is at war with the United States, the host of the U.N. headquarters. Mr. Pezeshkian used the diplomatic stage to present Iran’s point of view.

“We need power, because a people who doesn’t have power will be crushed in this war,” he said. “We will not ask permission from anyone for defending our country.”

Mr. Pezeshkian held up photographs of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by an Israeli strike on the first day of the war; elementary schoolchildren killed in Minab by American airstrikes; and athletes and children killed in a U.S. strike on a sports stadium.

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