Iranian president tells Trump the country will never 'bend the knee'

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly that his country would not yield to pressure from the United States and Israel but was ready for a diplomatic settlement to a war that has lasted nearly seven months.

He was responding to US President Donald Trump’s threat to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal was not reached soon. The US delegation left the chamber at the start of Pezeshkian’s address, and Washington did not immediately comment.

Pezeshkian said any agreement must end the US blockade of Iranian ports and ships. He also said Iran would not surrender its right to a peaceful nuclear programme and did not seek nuclear weapons.

Iran’s conditions for negotiations

The Iranian president described the US threat as a sign of a “bullying mentality” and said sanctions and increased pressure would only strengthen Iranian resistance. He said Tehran was ready for dialogue, diplomacy and negotiations, but would not accept “the language of force”.

Pezeshkian also demanded restored Iranian access to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments normally pass through the waterway. Iran wants to retain some control over the strait and collect fees from vessels using it, a demand rejected by the US.

Talks after Trump’s threat

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff held indirect talks in New York, brokered by Qatar. They were the first such discussions since June.

Witkoff said he hoped the talks would prove constructive and promising. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai said they were not new and that Araghchi had repeated Tehran’s conditions, including an end to the blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.

Strikes and an incident in the strait

Pezeshkian said Iranians had been victims of attacks and displayed photographs of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and civilians. Iranian authorities say more than 175 civilians, two-thirds of them children, were killed in strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd. The US has denied striking Lamerd and said it is investigating what happened in Minab.

An attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz killed an Indian sailor the same day, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Omani and Indian authorities. India’s foreign ministry condemned the attack and called for unimpeded passage through the strait to be restored.

According to the source, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states hosting US military bases after a US-Israeli air campaign in February. The US imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and ships in April, while a preliminary June agreement to end the war and reopen the strait later collapsed.