Iran and the United States have held mediated talks in New York after nearly seven months of war, as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly that Tehran had 'not bent the knee' to Washington.
The contacts on the sidelines of the UN summit come after a conflict that has continued to affect Iran and the wider region since a June ceasefire collapsed. Pezeshkian, who has advocated diplomacy with the West, is seeking to reopen dialogue with Washington while publicly rejecting any suggestion that Iran is surrendering.
Pezeshkian's UN Show of Defiance
Speaking beneath portraits of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei and images of more than 150 schoolchildren he said were killed in the conflict's opening days, Pezeshkian portrayed Iran as the victim of US attacks rather than the aggressor.
'We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,' he told delegates, accusing the United States and Israel of 'cowardly attacks and aggressions' against Iranian civilians.
His most pointed remark was blunt: 'Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.' He added that Iran remained 'ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting ...