Published : 24 Sep 2026, 08:41 AM
Updated : 24 Sep 2026, 08:41 AM
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has vowed that his country will not accept limits on its civilian nuclear programme in a defiant speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
Pezeshkian accused the US of flouting international law by targeting civilian infrastructure, The New York Times reports.
He said Iran would defend itself until “its last breath” but left the door open to peace talks.
As he spoke, the lone American diplomat in the hall walked out, according to the American newspaper.
It was the first time in the UN’s 81-year history that the president of a country at war with the US had travelled to New York to address the General Assembly, The New York Times said.
Earlier this year, Pezeshkian was helping run Iran from an underground bunker while sheltering from American aerial attacks, it added.
He is now reportedly protected by the US Secret Service and travels through the city in convoys of SUVs.
“Iran must be powerful to avoid being threatened,” Pezeshkian said, vowing that his country would not be bullied by the US.
His speech only slightly exceeded the UN’s 15-minute limit, unlike some lengthy addresses by world leaders in the past. Fidel Castro, for example, spoke for four and a half hours in 1960.
