Iranian President Pezeshkian Challenges Trump At The UN, Says Tehran Seeks ‘No One’s Permission’ To Defend Itself.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian challenged the U.S. during his address to the UNGA, saying the country “seeks no one’s permission to defend itself.”
During his address, Pezeshkian also claimed the country is not looking to obtain nuclear weapons and framed the country’s actions during the war as defensive.
“We only seek to live independently,” the president claimed. “We need strength to be able to defend ourselves” and “don’t seek anyone’s permission to defend our country.”
Pezeshkian also addressed the situation in Gaza, claiming that “resistant will continue” against “occupation and aggression and injustice.”
“If it is weakened in one form, it will reemerge in others, perhaps stronger still,” he added. “What other choice do they have? Succumb to bullying?”
Earlier, Iran said President Donald Trump’s most recent threats against the country if a deal to end the war is not reached soon are a sign of “strategic desperation.”
Iran’s General Staff said that “such words demonstrate America’s strategic dead end in its aggression against the Iranian nation, and the repetition of baseless claims and threats, given the exhaustion of the U.S. military, is not a sign of power but a sign of their strategic desperation.”
In a statement published in the country’s semi-official news agency Merh, the force added that the threats are also a tool for domestic propaganda rather than something based on realities on the ground.
Paraphrasing the statement, the outlet also noted that Iranian forces believe Trump’s threat do not “change power calculations and will never compensate for America’s diminished position in the new global order or its humiliating defeats in the war against Iran and the Resistance Front.”
Trump said on Tuesday that U.S. and Iran officials met for three hours to discuss whether it is possible to end hostilities. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner represented the Trump administration, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi led the Tehran delegation.
Secretary of State of State Marco Rubioalso claimed that discussions were positive, but were not a major breakthrough, adding that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is an impediment to any deal.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, on his end, said the meeting focused on Iran’s terms to revive diplomacy. They include an end to the U.S. blockade, all wars in the region and the release of frozen or restricted assets, as well as its control of the Strait of Hormuz.
