Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed Wednesday his country has “been the victim of terrorism” and blamed the US and Israel for instability in the Middle East during a wild address to the United Nations General Assembly.
Pezeshkian, whose nation is the leading funder of terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah— reiterated claims that an American attack was behind the deadly Feb. 28 Minab school strike that killed an estimated 120 children.
“The United States president described us as terrorists,” the 71-year-old told world leaders gathered in New York, referring to President Trump’s remarks to the same body one day earlier. “We have been the victims of terrorism.”
Pezeshkian also mourned slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and held up a picture of the late ayatollah, prompting the sole American delegate who attended the speech to walk out.
The Iranian leader then called out President Trump directly and said that Tehran could not be forced to surrender or reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US and Israel meet its demands.
“We will never bow our heads or bend at the knee,” Pezeshkian said. “We either all live in security, or we will have to live in insecurity together.”
Pezeshkian went on to claim that Iran had never threatened the Middle East or the wider world despite Tehran’s backing of terror groups in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen — and funding of attacks across the globe, including abortive plots to kill Trump.
More recently, Iran-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen seized the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, threatening global oil supplies.
Pezeshkian also attempted to sweep Iran’s recent anti-regime protests under the rug by claiming that the demonstrators who took to the streets this past December and January were agitators backed by the US and Israel.
Tehran launched a brutal crackdown on dissent shortly after the new year, leading to the deaths of at least 7,000 people, according to human rights groups — who estimate that as many as 30,000 could have been killed.
Pezeshkian vowed that Iran would not stop seeking nuclear technology “for progress,” insisting that the Islamic Republic wants access to energy, not weapons.
“Iran must be powerful so as to avoid being threatened,” he warned, “to avoid its future being threatened.”
