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Iran's president gives a rare wartime speech at the U.N.
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By
Hadeel Al-Shalchi
,
Alex Leff
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's president, addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York, on Wednesday. John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Iran's president gave a rare speech in New York by a country at war with the United States on Wednesday, a day after President Trump threatened from the same podium to "annihilate" Iran.
"Yesterday the United States president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly.
He proceeded to hold up a portrait of the late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
Politics Trump heads to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, President Trump said he faced a big decision: Make a deal with Iran that lets them rebuild or "annihilate the Islamic Republic." He also reiterated that he would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.
Trump later said U.S. officials had met with Iranians for three hours. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told NPR's Morning Edition on Wednesday that the administration is "internalizing what they brought to the table."
World U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz on Iran, Venezuela and Trump's foreign policy Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said on social media that an exchange of messages between Iran and the U.S. had taken place with Qatar as mediator. He said Iran's conditions included halting U.S. hostilities, an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and the release of Iranian funds.
Pezeshkian denied at the U.N. He also expressed a willingness to negotiate.
U.S. vs. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force," he said.
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− He then held up photos of children he said were the victims of a U.S.
+ He then held up photos of children he said were the victims of U.S.
− bombing of an Iranian school.
+ and Israeli bombings.
− looking for wins after a rough week Speaking at the U.N.
+ looking for wins after a rough week "Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country, and we defended ourselves with utmost strength," he said.
Speaking at the U.N.
− that Iran wanted a nuclear weapon but refused limitations on the country's civilian nuclear program.
+ that Iran wanted a nuclear weapon but refused limitations on the country's civilian nuclear program, saying, "We seek energy for progress."
Yet he emphasized that Iran has to remain strong.
"Iran must be powerful so as to avoid being threatened, to avoid its future being threatened.
+ We do not wish to use our power for hegemony and we do not seek our security in the insecurity of others," he said.
− China: Inside a great power rivalry Trump set to greet Xi for high-stakes state visit "It must be understood by Mr.
+ China: Inside a great power rivalry Trump and Xi meet at moment of global consequence "We will never bow our head or bend at the knee," Pezeshkian said — and then named the U.S.
+ president directly. "It must be understood by Mr.