Pezeshkian claims Iran won’t pursue nukes, won’t accept limits on civilian enrichment; claims Iran hasn’t hit civilians; lone US diplomat in hall walks out

Tehran will never compromise on its right to have a civilian nuclear enrichment program, says Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the United Nations General Assembly.

“We will not bow our heads and give up the right that is inherently ours,” he says. “No nuclear weapons, and no limitations to new peaceful nuclear technology.”

“We seek energy for progress, not to threaten societies with weapons,” he insists, calling peaceful nuclear technology “part of our inherent progress.”

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.

Holding up an image of late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the US-Israeli war with Iran, he says that “we have been the victims of terrorism.”

Pezeshkian displays images of Iranian civilians killed in US and Israeli attacks, including the schoolgirls in Minab killed on the first day of the war in a US strike earlier this year.

The lone US diplomat in the hall walks out during the remarks.

Pezeshkian says that Iran only “defended itself with utmost strength” against aggression.

“We responded but we did not hit civilian populations,” he falsely claims. During this year’s war, 21 Israeli civilians and foreign nationals were killed in Israel in Iranian ballistic missile attacks, along with four Palestinians in the West Bank.

Iranian strikes have also targeted civilian areas across the region, including in Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and beyond.

He also claims that “for the past two centuries Iran has not attacked any country or any territory, but we’ve always defended ourselves.”

This year, Iran and its proxies have launched repeated missile and drone attacks at almost every Arab country in the Middle East, as well as Israel, Cyprus, and Turkey. A network of Iranian-backed terror proxies has attacked civilian areas in Israel for decades.

Pezeshkian says Israel is “committing genocide by using the so-called technologies they have at their disposal, then they label others as terrorists.”

“Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee,” he declares.

“Our defensive systems have been built so that no one can think that the bombing of Iranian cities can go unanswered,” says Pezeshkian.