Iran says it will not surrender to US but remains open to diplomacy
President Masoud Pezeshkian defended Iran’s military actions at the UN as indirect talks with the US resumed and a dispute over aviation sanctions intensified.
New York, United States. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Tehran would never surrender to the United States but still believed in diplomacy. His speech came a day after US President Donald Trump threatened at the same forum to “annihilate” Iran.
Indirect talks resume
The speeches followed the first known indirect talks between US and Iranian officials in months. The contact appeared to produce no public shift in either side’s position on ending the Middle East war.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated through mediators on the sidelines of the annual UN gathering. It was their first known indirect contact since a ceasefire collapsed in July.
Trump described the meeting with mediators as “very productive” and said he believed there was momentum towards a deal. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had conveyed conditions through a Qatari mediator, including an end to the war on all fronts and a halt to what he called US “acts of aggression”.
Some Iranian state media initially reported that Araqchi and Witkoff had met, but Iranian officials clarified to Reuters that they had not met face to face. The diplomatic contact prompted a backlash in Iranian media associated with hardliners.
Iran defends military actions
In his speech, Pezeshkian described Iran’s military actions as defensive and insisted that the country was not seeking nuclear weapons.
Iran also threatened to act against neighbouring countries if they comply with new US sanctions intended to ground Iranian civilian aircraft worldwide. Washington has said it will impose secondary sanctions after Wednesday on any country that allows Iranian flights.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told state television that Iran would ensure neighbouring countries’ airports could not function if they stopped Iranian flights.
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