Foreign Affairs

Iran leader to UN: His terror state must be 'powerful so as to avoid being threatened'

By Susannah George & John Hudson The Washington Post

Published Sept. 23, 2026

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UNITED NATIONS — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke before the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, as his country remains at war with the United States and a day after President Donald Trump threatened in a speech before the same body to "annihilate" Iran.

Pezeshkian began his address by saying that he had planned to deliver different remarks before hearing Trump's speech Tuesday.

"The United States president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism," Pezeshkian said, holding up pictures of children killed in an airstrike on a school in Minab, in southern Iran.

"You see these children? These children perished under bombs with weapons used by the United States and Israel," he said. A U.N. report last week found that the United States may have committed "war crimes" in that attack — allegations the Trump administration has denied.

Such injustices, Pezeshkian argued, demand that Iran project strength on the world stage.

"Iran must be powerful so as to avoid being threatened, to avoid its future being threatened," he said. "A world without power is dangerous, but a world that only understands the language of war and bullying will not be safe."

Pezeshkian touched on Iran's nuclear program, a key sticking point in talks, describing "peaceful nuclear technologies" as an inherent right. He said Iran would not seek nuclear weapons, reiterating a long-held position.

"We are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force," he said, leaving the door open to further peace talks.

Iranian officials are pursuing a flurry of diplomatic meetings in New York this week.

Trump administration officials on Tuesday held their first meeting with Iran since June. Iranian officials said Qatar and Pakistan were mediating.

"We engaged in lengthy talks with the Iranian delegation through the mediators, who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day," U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said in an X post. He said he hoped the discussion "will prove constructive and promising. The mediators will continue their work."

In a news conference with reporters on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized Iran harshly, but praised the resumption of talks with the United States.

One diplomat familiar with those discussions said the conversation between Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Witkoff and their Iranian counterparts was largely surface-level and the two sides did not delve in complex negotiations over key sticking points.

Rubio declined to weigh in on how substantive the talks were but confirmed that "it was a continuation of conversations that have occurred in the past with people involved in those conversations."

But given the lack of in-person contacts between the two sides, Rubio said "it was significant that at least there was a conversation."

"If there's an opportunity to exchange ideas and messages, we will, and that's what largely yesterday was. It was positive in that regard," he said.

Iran is using the assembly as a chance to reach out to its neighbors. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Tuesday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Months of war have shaken the Persian Gulf countries and ignited fronts of interrelated conflict across the Middle East - as Iran launched attacks across the region in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes.

Iran does not "seek our security in the insecurity of others," Pezeshkian said.

The attacks were retaliatory in nature and did not target civilians, Pezeshkian claimed. Many of the hundreds of missiles and drones Iran has launched at neighboring countries and others across the region have hit hotels, airports and energy infrastructure.

When Trump addressed Iran from the same General Assembly Hall on Tuesday, he said the country faced a choice: to make a deal with the U.S. that could bring prosperity, or face annihilation.

"I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?" Trump said in his address to the U.N. General Assembly. "Or do I annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?"

Pezeshkian said such comments "go against the very essence and charter and the spirit of the United Nations." That characterization drew a direct rebuke from Rubio, who said Iran was in no position to criticize the United States about norms.

"I think slaughtering 10,000 of your own people in protests is a violation of the U.N. I hope it's a violation of the U.N. principles," Rubio said, referring to Iran's crackdown on dissent that predated the start of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

"I think sponsoring terrorist organizations in the region to attack your neighbors, attack energy infrastructure, attack civilian sites, is a violation of the U.N. system," he added.

"I don't know how you stand up there and argue on behalf of the international system when you are the world's leading violator of the international system," he said.

More than six months into the war with Iran, the Trump administration has struggled to secure a decisive military victory. The two sides agreed to a framework of a deal in June that was intended to kick-start talks on a broader peace agreement, but it fell apart within weeks.

Last month, the Trump administration launched an economic pressure campaign against Iran. The measures have deepened a long-simmering economic crisis in the country, pushing up inflation as Iranians report new shortages of electricity and gas.

On Wednesday, Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. Central Command, briefed members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to update them on the Iran war. Members of both parties exited the session saying they had discussed the next steps in the conflict and how to increase oil flows in the Strait of Hormuz.

Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican whose colleagues from the Iowa congressional delegation have recently called on Trump to end the war, shared similar sentiments after the briefing. "I would like the administration to come back with a very clear plan on how we bring this to an end," Ernst told reporters. "I do support the president but this is really having an impact on everyday Americans."