Iran's Pezeshkian defies US at UN as delegates walk out

Iran's president Masoud Pezeshkian used his UN General Assembly address to reject US pressure, accuse Washington and Israel of terrorism and insist Tehran would not surrender, while saying Iran remained open to diplomacy.

He spoke a day after President Donald Trump told the same assembly that the US could annihilate Iran if there was no deal, while also suggesting an agreement might come after the US midterm elections. The US delegation walked out as Pezeshkian spoke. It was the first time in the UN's 80-year history that a leader of a country actively at war with the US was given permission to speak in New York, with US Secret Service protection.

Before the speech, US envoy Steve Witkoff said mediators had completed a round of discussions he hoped would be constructive and promising. US and Iranian officials held three hours of talks in New York, and officials including Jared Kushner and Witkoff were reported to be negotiating through intermediaries such as the UAE and Qatar. A senior Iranian official said Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within days if the US eased military pressure and lifted its blockade on Iranian ports.

In his address, Pezeshkian held up photographs of children he said were killed by a US strike, including at a school. He said Iran had been the victim of terrorism and that the United States president had described Iranians as terrorists. He said Iran had proved it was not afraid of fighting and would defend its homeland, but he also said Tehran would not bend the knee and was ready for dialogue, though not the language of force. He denied that Iran's nuclear programme had malign intent and asked why inspectors were in Tehran but not Israel.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on the sidelines, said the US was still open to a deal that would allow Iran to be a great and prosperous country. But he said that would require Iran to give up any desire for a nuclear weapon, support for proxies and support for terrorism. Otherwise, he warned, there would be big problems, and he said the president had economic and military options. Rubio also said the international system was broken and that the US would always put its own interests ahead of the international order. On the talks, he said Iranians who believed a Democratic win in the US midterms would constrain Trump had misunderstood the American system.

Nuclear verification remains a central problem. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there had been no inspectors able to monitor activities in Iran for about six months. The IAEA last confirmed more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium at a level close to weapon-grade at sites attacked during the 12-day war in 2025. Grossi said activity at the Pickaxe Mountain underground site showed only that inspectors needed to return, because uncertainty would remain while they were absent. He said the agency was ready to help at any moment, but Iran has made constructive participation contingent on a wider agreement.

The gathering also exposed a contrast in US treatment of delegations. The Palestinian delegation was refused visas, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was not allowed into the United States, though he was permitted to address the General Assembly after a vote in which 152 countries supported him and the US, Israel and Paraguay opposed. Iranian delegates were allowed in, with restrictions on numbers and activities.

Speaking to the BBC before the address, Iranian-American journalist and women's rights activist Mahsa Alinejad said millions of Iranians felt abandoned. She criticised the focus on nuclear talks and the Strait of Hormuz while, she said, protesters remained in prison and more than 1,000 people had been executed in the previous year. She said one protester, Ali Zari, who was blinded during the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, was about to be hanged. Her comments were a reminder that the diplomatic talks in New York have not addressed human rights demands inside Iran.

Oil markets were watching closely, with the price of oil edging up again during the UN meetings.