President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, has highlighted the impact of the recent attacks on his country, including the assassination of its supreme leader and scientists and maintained that Iran only defended itself.

Mr Pezeshkian said this on Wednesday in his statement to world leaders at the ongoing General Debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York.

“We are not terrorists. Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country.

“We did not bend the knee, we did not bow our heads, we responded, but we did not hit civilian populations,” he stated, recalling the attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

According to him, for the past two centuries, Iran had not attacked another country or territory, even as he rejected accusations that Iran was a source of regional instability.

Turning to Iran’s nuclear programme, he said peaceful nuclear technology was part of the country’s development and his country would not accept such technology remaining exclusively in the hands of a few countries.

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

He described the Palestine case as an open wound on the conscience of the international community, underscoring that “Gaza remains a sample of the failure of international mechanisms to prevent civilian suffering”.

“As long as occupation, aggression and injustice persisted, resistance would continue. It cannot be destroyed by bombs and siege,” he said.

Addressing what he described as double standards, he contrasted scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear activities with Israel’s nuclear capabilities and actions in Gaza.

He said that Iran had been attacked while at the negotiation table and remained subject to sanctions.

“Israel kills but Iran is subject to sanctions — this is a true tragedy which would make anyone hearing it laugh,” he said.

Earlier in his statement on Tuesday, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, defended the war against Iran before the UNGA, saying Tehran was no longer the dominant power it once was in the Middle East.

“They were the bully of the Middle East, but they are the bully no more.”

Mr Trump said he had remained unwavering throughout his political career in his determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Iranian representatives in the Assembly hall listened to Mr Trump’s remarks without visible reaction.

The U.S. and Israel jointly started the war against Iran on February 28, prompting Tehran to retaliate with attacks across the region.

Mr Trump portrayed the military campaign as having inflicted devastating damage on the country.

Mr Trump nevertheless said he believed Tehran would ultimately agree to a deal, most likely after the U.S. midterm elections. 

(NAN)