'We will never bow our head': Pezeshkian says Iran open to talks, rejects 'language of force'

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Pezeshkian displayed images of victims of an American strike on a school in Minab at the start of the war, along with images of a sports hall in Lamerd destroyed by US bombardment. The ​United States delegation walked out at the ⁠start of Pezeshkian's speech.

The US mission to the ​United Nations did not immediately respond to a request ​for comment.🔴 LIVE: Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech at the UNGA on the second day of the annual general debate in New York.https://t.co/wo8MrOIloL— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish)September 23, 2026“The United States, by using weapons with multiple warheads, targeted that sports hall.

They martyred and assassinated our scientists, our men, women and children. Innocent children who in truth had committed no crimes, no sins,” he said. Pezeshkian stressed that while Iran had responded to strikes by the United States and Israel, it had not targeted civilian areas.

“Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee. We did not bow our head,” he said. “We responded, but we did not hit civilian populations.

“They came into surrounding territories and targeted our universities, our healthcare centres, our schools, our hospitals, our infrastructure; all of it against international law,” Pezeshkian added. He also said that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had been assassinated in Tehran by Israel on the day of his inauguration as president.

Pezeshkian said there was clear hypocrisy in the fact that Israel possessed nuclear weapons and was not a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, “but the inspectors are requested to come to Iran.”"Israel has the bombs, has weapons of mass destruction but is not a member of the non-proliferation treaty and, during her shameful life, has not allowed a single inspection.

I will repeat: the nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran," he underlined. “They (Israelis) kill, we are sanctioned, we are punished.”“Israel has murdered savagely over 70,000 innocents in Gaza, but Iran, while behind the table of negotiation, was bombed.”Pezeshkian reiterated Iran’s claim that it was not pursuing nuclear weapons.

However, he said Iran had an “inherent” right to peaceful nuclear technology. “We will not bow our head and give up the right that is inherently ours,” said the Iranian president. “We say it clearly: No nuclear weapons and no limitations to peaceful nuclear technology,” he added.

'We are not terrorists, we are victims of terrorism'He also rejected US President Donald Trump’s characterisation of Iran as a sponsor of terrorism. “Yesterday, Trump said we are terrorists.

We are not terrorists; we are victims of terrorism,” Pezeshkian, referring to Trump’s address a day earlier in which the US president described Iran as the “number one sponsor of terror.”Pezeshkian said Iran’s leader had been killed “without any justification,” referring to the US-Israeli military attacks against Iran that began earlier this year.

He also accused Israel of targeting neighbourhoods across Iranian cities and provinces and carrying out assassinations, describing such actions as “true terrorist” behaviour. “The people of Iran have been defending their country for the past seven months,” Pezeshkian said.

In the first part of his speech, the Iranian leader held up an image of the Islamic Republic's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on his compound in Tehran on the first day of the US-Israeli assault on Iran. He also held up images of children killed in a strike on a school.

A UN fact-finding mission on Iran said earlier this month that it had reasonable grounds to believe that the US was behind two military strikes on a school and a sports facility in Iran, and that these constituted war crimes.

Pezeshkian ⁠addressed the 193-member General Assembly a day after US President Donald Trump spoke. ​Trump used his speech on Tuesday to ​make ⁠the case for his war on Iran, arguing he has prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ⁠warning ​that he could "annihilate the Islamic ​Republic" if no deal is reached to end the conflict.

After agreeing to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire in April, the US and Iran signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in June, which gave the two sides 60 days to discuss a long-term agreement. But the two sides soon engaged in retaliatory attacks, and the US reimposed its military blockade of Iranian ports while Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Hormuz cannot be used for passage of weapons used against Iran: Pezeshkian. Pezeshkian said Iran wants to have "strong neighbours" near the Strait of Hormuz, but cannot allow those who seek to impose "insecurity" on Iranians to have access to it.

"We cannot let some have free access and gain their interest from a waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggressions upon us, to impose insecurity upon us, to forbid us access to our own waterways," he stated.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian:Iran does not see her neighbors as security rivals — we want to have strong neighbors. In the waters of the Strait of Hormuz, we do not want to impose insecurity.

We cannot let some have free access and gain their interest from a waterway,…pic.twitter.com/q9YcnRREJw— Clash Report (@clashreport)September 23, 2026"It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access to shipping through this waterway. The permanent deployment of hostile fleets and the expansion of the war will not lead to peace," Pezeshkian said.

Iran needs nuclear energy, not a nuclear bomb, Pezeshkian says. Pezeshkian said Iran needs peaceful nuclear energy, not a nuclear bomb. "For our country, peaceful nuclear technology is part of our inherent progress," he said, adding, "Iran does not accept nuclear technology to be at the exclusive disposal of some, of a handful.

"Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian:We will not bow our head and give up the right that is inherently ours. We say it clearly: no nuclear weapons, and no limitations to peaceful nuclear technology.pic.twitter.com/YsMSrKNuw0— Clash Report (@clashreport)September 23, 2026"We say it clearly: no nuclear weapons and no limitations to peaceful nuclear technology," he said.