On September 24, 2025, the global spotlight turned to New York City as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian took the stage at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, delivering a defiant and impassioned address amid escalating tensions between Iran, Israel, the United States, and Europe. The backdrop to his speech was anything but calm: recent military strikes, a looming snapback of United Nations sanctions, and a nuclear standoff that has gripped the Middle East for years.
Pezeshkian wasted no time in denouncing the recent airstrikes by Israel and the United States on Iranian cities, calling them "a great betrayal of diplomacy and efforts to establish peace." According to BORNA and AFP, he described these attacks—which occurred during ongoing negotiations—as a "fundamental breach of international law" that resulted in the deaths of commanders, scientists, women, and children. "Aerial assaults of the Zionist regime and the United States of America against Iran’s cities, homes and infrastructure at the very time we were treading the path of diplomatic negotiations constituted a grave betrayal of diplomacy," Pezeshkian declared before the gathered world leaders.
The Iranian president’s address came in the wake of a 12-day conflict in June 2025, during which Israel launched a surprise attack on Tehran, targeting military, nuclear, and civilian sites. The United States joined the campaign on June 22, striking several of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Tehran responded with retaliatory missile and drone strikes, and the fighting eventually halted under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire on June 24. According to Tehran, the Israeli campaign killed more than 1,000 Iranians, including senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Standing at the UN podium, Pezeshkian held up images of those killed in the conflict and issued a sweeping condemnation of what he described as systematic violations of sovereignty across the region. “Is this the reality of our world today? Look at the past two years: genocide in Gaza, repeated violations of sovereignty in Lebanon, the destruction of Syria’s infrastructure, and starving children in their mothers’ arms. We witnessed assaults on state sovereignty and targeted killings of leaders. Do you accept such a world?” he asked, his voice echoing through the chamber.
Pezeshkian’s speech was not just a lament for the dead; it was a rallying cry for Iranian resilience. He recalled the unity of the Iranian people during the recent conflict: “In the 12-day defense, our people shattered the arrogant illusions of the invaders. Despite the harshest sanctions and repeated attempts to divide us, with the firing of the first bullet, the people stood as supporters of their armed forces.” He insisted that Iran’s strength comes not from nuclear weapons, but from a "culture of compassion and the message of empathy carried by Rumi and Hafez."
Central to Pezeshkian’s message was a categorical rejection of nuclear weapons. He emphatically denied that Iran has ever pursued, or ever will pursue, nuclear arms, citing both religious and leadership directives. “We are not seeking to manufacture nuclear weapons and will not pursue them at the orders of our leaders and our religious authority,” he told the assembly. He pointed to a fatwa by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which forbids the development of such weapons. “Once again, I declare here that Iran has never sought nuclear weapons. This is a matter of belief and rooted in the Supreme Leader’s fatwa,” Pezeshkian reiterated, as reported by AFP and BORNA.
Despite these assurances, skepticism remains high among Western powers. On the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the General Assembly, urging Iran to allow full access to UN nuclear inspectors, resume nuclear negotiations, and provide transparency on highly enriched uranium. “An agreement remains possible. Only a few hours are left. It’s up to Iran to respond to the legitimate conditions we have raised,” Macron posted on X following their meeting.
France, Britain, and Germany—the so-called E3—have set a deadline through the UN Security Council to reimpose sweeping sanctions on Iran, known as the "snapback" mechanism, at the end of Saturday, September 27. The move comes after they accused Tehran of failing to cooperate on its nuclear program. Steve Witkoff, a U.S. envoy, told the Concordia summit, “I think that we have no desire to hurt them. We have a desire, however, to either realize a permanent solution and negotiate around snapbacks. If we can’t, then snapbacks will be what they are. They’re the right medicine.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his European counterparts on September 23, but the only progress was an agreement to keep talking. Pezeshkian, for his part, accused the Europeans of acting in bad faith and seeking to destroy the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, which he said they once celebrated as a diplomatic triumph. “They falsely presented themselves as parties of good standing to the agreement, and they disparaged Iran’s sincere efforts as insufficient. All of this was in pursuit of nothing less than the destruction of the very JCPOA which they themselves had once held as a foremost achievement,” he charged during his UN address.
The European push for renewed sanctions comes as Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered a nationally televised address rejecting any negotiations with the U.S. over the nuclear program. He denounced Washington’s demands as "bullying" and a violation of Iranian sovereignty. “Over these past decades, they wanted Iran to give up [its nuclear programme] under pressure. But we have not surrendered and never will,” Khamenei said, warning that talks under current conditions would "inflict irreparable harm" and signal "surrender and disgrace." Khamenei insisted, “The US has announced the result of the talks in advance. The result is the closure of nuclear activities and enrichment. This is not a negotiation. It is a diktat, an imposition.”
The Supreme Leader’s remarks reflect deep Iranian skepticism after the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018 under President Donald Trump, who reimposed sweeping sanctions despite Iran’s continued compliance at the time. “It proved to us that America is untrustworthy,” Khamenei said. Trump, for his part, recently boasted at the UN about ordering the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, describing Iran as the "world’s number one sponsor of terror" and pledging that Tehran would "never be allowed" to acquire nuclear weapons.
As the sanctions deadline looms, European diplomats admit that the prospects for avoiding the snapback are slim. The German foreign office urged Iran to take "practical steps within the next days, if not hours," to address nuclear concerns, but Tehran remains defiant, demanding assurances against future attacks and the preservation of its uranium enrichment rights—demands U.S. officials have flatly rejected.
Throughout his UN speech, Pezeshkian painted a picture of an Iran besieged but unbroken, committed to peace and stability in the region. He called for a nuclear-free Middle East and condemned Israel’s expansionist ambitions, warning that "no one in the world is safe from this regime’s aggressive ambitions." He also accused Israel of "criminal aggression against Qatar" and pointed to ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen as evidence of regional destabilization.
In closing, Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran’s resilience: "The upright people of Iran have endured crises by standing firm against outlaws. Let us turn threats into opportunities—together." As the world waits to see whether diplomacy or confrontation will prevail, Iran’s leaders have made their stance clear: defiance in the face of pressure, and a refusal to relinquish their nuclear ambitions—at least as they define them.