Iran’s president vows fight ‘until our last breath’

What happened

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday told the United Nations General Assembly that the U.S. “hit us, but we did not bend the knee” and will defend “our beloved” homeland “until our last breath.” His “defiant speech” at the U.N.’s New York headquarters “marked a striking instance of a foreign leader addressing the world body while their country is at war with the host nation,” The Associated Press said. Pezeshkian held up “pictures of people killed by American and Israeli airstrikes” while “standing at the same lectern where a day earlier” President Donald Trump had “threatened to ’annihilate’ his country,’” The New York Times said.

Who said what

Pezeshkian accused the U.S. of violating international law with “cowardly attacks” on civilian infrastructure and said Iran would not give up its civilian nuclear program. Trump “described us as terrorists,” but Iranians are “the victims of terrorism,” Pezeshkian said. “Iran must be powerful to avoid being threatened,” and Trump and others “who seek to bully us” must understand that Iran is “ready for dialogue, diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran had little standing to “lecture anyone on human rights or the international system when they habitually violate it.” As Pezeshkian was speaking, the “lone American diplomat sitting in the hall left,” the Times said.

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What next?

U.S. and Iranian officials downplayed indirect talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly. They’re “not anything new,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei. Rubio said holding talks was “positive” but “I don’t want to mischaracterize this as a major breakthrough.”