Iran’s president has delivered an unyielding speech at the UN, describing his country as a “victim of terrorism” and declaring it will never surrender to US and Israeli aggression.<\/p>\n
A day after US President Donald Trump told the UN he could “annihilate” the Islamic Republic<\/a>, Masoud Pezeshkian appeared in person at the UN’s New York headquarters.<\/p>\n He was afforded the protection of the US Secret Service, as is protocol for visiting leaders, and is believed to be the first world leader to address the UN assembly while at war with the host country.<\/p>\n “Yesterday, the United States’s president described us as terrorists,” Mr Pezeshkian said, according to a live translation.<\/p>\n “We have been the victims of terrorism.”<\/p>\n The speech was mainly comprised of the arguments Iran has been putting forward publicly since the outbreak of war almost seven months ago: that Iran’s nuclear research was for peaceful purposes, it would not accept limits on its nuclear program, and it would not succumb to military or economic pressure.<\/p>\n The only delegate in the US’s seats in the assembly hall walked out as Mr Pezeshkian spoke.<\/p>\n “We will never bow our head or bend at the knee,” Mr Pezeshkian said. “Iran must be understood by Mr Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force.”<\/p>\n The speech was a “reminder that the US military and economic pressure on Iran can create leverage but don’t necessarily produce capitulation”, said Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n “As long as there’s a leadership in Tehran that believes its survival to be at stake, it’ll opt for endurance rather than surrender,” he said.<\/p>\n “But what happens in the corridors of the UN this week, in direct and indirect talks, matters more than what either side says at the podium.”<\/p>\n Any deal will take work over time: Rubio<\/p>\n Despite the defiant speeches from both Mr Pezeshkian and Mr Trump, Iran’s presence at summit appears to have opened the door to the resumption of some degree of negotiation, though there is no evidence of movement towards a breakthrough.<\/p>\n Mr Trump yesterday said US and Iranian officials had held a “very productive meeting” on the sidelines of the summit. In his earlier speech, he predicted a deal would be reached after the midterm elections in November, though his many previous predictions of peace deals have not materialised.<\/p>\n Today, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on social media that messages had been exchanged with the US via Qatari mediators.<\/p>\n He said Iran had reiterated to the US that diplomacy would only be revived if the US met its conditions, including ending the war, ceasing its naval blockade and releasing frozen assets.<\/p>\n