Middle East — 2026-09-24

Iranian President Pezeshkian Delivers Defiant UNGA Speech Blaming US and Israel While Asserting Right to Nuclear Technology

BLUFPezeshkian's public preconditions for talks and Trump's "annihilate" rhetoric have locked both sides into maximalist positions that leave the Witkoff-Kushner backchannel little room to deliver results.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that "the United States president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism," responding directly to Trump's Tuesday threat to "annihilate" Iran 12. Pezeshkian held up photos of children he said were killed in a US bombing of a school in Minab and a portrait of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in a US-Israeli strike at the war's outset, while both the US and Israeli delegations walked out or boycotted the speech 123. He said Iran seeks only peaceful nuclear technology and "no limitations," rejecting weapons ambitions, and said Tehran is "ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force" 124. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said conditions for reviving talks include ending the US naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and securing safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, after US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Iranian representatives on the sidelines Tuesday for a meeting Trump called "very good" and Baghaei described as roughly two hours 124.

Analysis
Pezeshkian's speech hardens Tehran's public negotiating floor, tying any resumption of US-Iran talks to ending the Gulf of Oman naval blockade, unfreezing Iranian assets, and guaranteeing safe Hormuz passage: conditions Washington has not accepted, straining the parallel Witkoff-Kushner channel. Dual US and Israeli walkouts show neither government will grant the speech symbolic legitimacy, narrowing room for face-saving gestures, while Pezeshkian's insistence on unconstrained peaceful nuclear technology collides directly with Trump's stated red line. Strong convergence across three independent outlets confirms the speech's content and walkouts but offers no visibility into private negotiating positions. The defiant framing may instead function primarily as domestic political theater aimed at hardliners, coexisting with quieter flexibility in the Witkoff-Kushner track rather than reflecting Tehran's actual posture. The next round of contacts is the real test of whether either side moves off positions staked out before a global audience.

4 sources