In defiant speech, Pezeshkian calls out Trump and says Iran will fight
'until our last breath'
[September 24, 2026]
By FARNOUSH AMIRI
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran’s president said Wednesday that his people
have been “victims of terrorism” by the United States, delivering a rare
wartime speech at the U.N. General Assembly a day after President Donald
Trump said he may “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal isn’t
reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.
The defiant speech by President Masoud Pezeshkian marked a striking
instance of a foreign leader addressing the world body while their
country is at war with the host nation. While defending his country,
Pezeshkian held up large photos of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
and the more than 150 Iranian schoolchildren killed on the first days of
the war.
“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” Pezeshkian
said at the General Assembly. “Our innocent people have been the targets
of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we
defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked
us.”
He added of the United States: “Yes they did hit us, but we did not bend
the knee.” Toward the end of his speech, Pezeshkian called out Trump by
name.
“It 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,” he said.
Shortly after, both U.S. and Israeli officials blasted the speech,
saying that it was hypocritical for the Islamic Republic to present
itself as the victims of the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters: “I don’t know what
standing Iran has to lecture anyone on human rights or the international
system when they habitually violate it.”
A busy 24 hours for US-Iran relations
Arriving in New York under heavy security and scrutiny, Pezeshkian —
who, within Iran’s political landscape, is considered a moderate
politician — addressed world leaders a day after Trump used the same
stage to mull whether to massively escalate a war that has already
spiraled out of control.
“I have a big decision to make,” Trump said in his wide-ranging address
Tuesday. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and
create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the
greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the
Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill
and destroy people and countries again?”
Hours after those stunning threats, Trump told reporters that his chief
envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met for about three hours with
the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering. But he
offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the
substance of the exchange.
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Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st session of
the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters,
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
“It was a very good meeting,” Trump said. The president later added
that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it’s
something.” Also on Tuesday, Rubio said Trump is open to meeting
with Pezeshkian while he’s in New York.
But Tehran downplayed Tuesday's unscheduled exchange, which were the
first indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian officials since a June
ceasefire unraveled. Esmail Baghaei, an Iranian Foreign Ministry
spokesperson, maintained the country's negotiating position in talks
with U.S. officials, demanding that Washington end its blockade of
Iranian ports and release frozen Iranian assets,
Baghaei said the talks — conducted indirectly through Qatari
mediators — were “not anything new.”
Rubio echoed that sentiment Wednesday, saying that “it was a
continuation of conversations that have occurred in the past.”
“If there’s an opportunity to exchange ideas and messages, we will.
And that’s what largely yesterday was — it was positive in that
regard," he said. "But ultimately, I don’t want to mischaracterize
this as a major breakthrough."
More than a year of negotiations have taken place
Pezeshkian's address elaborated on where Tehran stands as more than
a year of start-stop negotiations between the two longtime
adversaries have failed to produce a sustainable solution. His
speech came as intermittent attacks continued in the Strait of
Hormuz off Iran’s coast, where commercial shipping remained below
prewar levels.
His address last year came months after the 12-day Israel-Iran war
that saw the assassination of many of the Islamic Republic’s highest
military and political leaders and once again broke down weeks of
negotiations with the United States.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you all bore witness that this past June, my
country was subjected to a savage aggression and flagrant
contravention of the most elementary principles of international
law,” Pezeshkian said at the time.
___
Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in New York
contributed to this story.
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