Iran defies Trump from the UN podium: "We will not lower our head"

WashingtonIn February, Donald Trump gave the Islamic Republic of Iran four weeks after the US and Israel jointly killed its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Seven months later, the ayatollahs' regime is still standing and its president, who was then hiding from bombs inside a bunker, appeared this Wednesday from the UN headquarters in New York. Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the General Assembly in a new gesture of defiance: "They have tested Iran's strength and firmness, and they have learned that Iran cannot be made to surrender."

"Mr. Trump and those who intend to intimidate us must understand that we are prepared for dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiations, but without accepting the language of force," said Pezeshkian from the same podium where yesterday the US president again threatened the Persian nation with "annihilating it." "We will not bow our heads," he insisted.

Despite the threats, Trump confirmed yesterday that a US delegation finally managed to meet in the UN corridors with the Iranian delegation. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, participated in the meeting according to what the leader said yesterday. The spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, Ismail Baghaei, also confirmed the contact, but it did not seem that there had been a substantial change in Tehran's negotiating position. Among the conditions that Baghaei cited were "the end of the war in all its dimensions, the cessation of American aggressive actions, the naval blockade, and the economic war."

Despite the ravages of war, the ability to resist US pressure and return the harm with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has emboldened the regime. Iran feels strong and is now imposing new conditions on US demands regarding the Iranian nuclear program. Pezeshkian has insisted that the regime does not intend to renounce "a right that is inherently ours."

"We say it clearly: we do not want nuclear weapons and we do not want limitations on peaceful nuclear technology," defended Pezeshkian, who has demanded that Washington stop using a double standard regarding its demands for nuclear non-proliferation.

The Iranian leader has denounced how Israel already has nuclear bombs - a fact that many analysts consider - but that it has never "been a member of the non-proliferation treaty". Tehran was, until Trump decided to withdraw from the agreement that the Barack Obama administration had signed. Because of all this, Pezeshkian has requested that Washington's partner be subjected to the same controls by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that are being sought to be imposed on Iran.

"The issue of this meeting is mutual trust, which cannot be achieved only with words, but by refraining from applying double standards. Atomic and nuclear bombs are in the hands of the Israeli regime, but inspectors are asked to go to Iran", explained Pezeshkian, who stressed that Tehran will only return to the negotiating table if Washington stops behaving like a "bully".

Control of Hormuz

The Iranian leader has also reiterated his demands regarding the Strait of Hormuz. "We cannot allow some to have free access to a maritime route and benefit from it, while at the same time using that same route to impose their aggressions on us, to impose insecurity on us, and to prevent us from accessing our own navigable waterways," the Iranian stated.

The pressure caused by the blockade of the maritime passage has worsened after the Houthi militias also entered the conflict, destabilizing the Bab el-Mandeb strait. This other strait was the alternative that Saudi Arabia had used until now as an alternative to export its oil.

Pezeshkian began his speech by showing an image of the late supreme leader and the children from the Minab primary school, who also died under American bombs during the first day of attacks on February 28. A recent United Nations report concluded last week that the American bombing of the primary school could constitute a war crime.

The representative of the ayatollahs also recalled that peace will not be possible in the region as long as Israel continues with the genocide in Palestine: "A lasting peace in West Asia is impossible without justice for Palestine".

The Iranian leader emphasized that the US and Israel have punished innocent people in their military campaign, while "we have only defended ourselves". Pezeshkian, who now cries out about the cruelty the Iranians have suffered, seems to have forgotten the harshness with which the regime repressed the protests that took place in the country just before the war began. Protesters to whom Trump also promised he would send aid, but who have never seen it.

The intervention at the UN coincides with a moment in which the regime is standing up to the United States, but at a very high price. The civilian population, which in the weeks prior to the start of the conflict had revolted against the regime, has been, and is, the great victim. After suffering the repression of their own government, the Iranians have also had to survive under the siege of American bombs. By mid-April, at least 3,468 Iranians had already died, according to data from the Iranian government.