President tells Trump that Iran will never ‘bend at the knee’

UNITED NATIONS: Iran’s president struck a defiant tone at the UN on Wednesday (Sep 23) where he spoke for the first time since Washington and Israel launched an all-out war on his country, vowing Tehran would never “bend at the knee.”

Masoud Pezeshkian accused Washington of “terrorism” for assassinating former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the conflict, insisting Tehran had never started a war.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump had told the UN General Assembly that he was weighing whether to “annihilate” Iran but went on to hail renewed talks between Tehran and Washington’s negotiators.

Pezeshkian made no reference to the talks to resolve the stalled war in his steely speech.

“(Trump) must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee,” he said.

Pezeshkian insisted Tehran would not allow the Strait of Hormuz, which it has choked off since the start of the war causing global energy prices to spike, to be used as leverage against his country.

“We cannot let some have free access and bolster their interests from the waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us,” he said.

Pezeshkian’s attendance at the UN’s signature diplomatic event, in the heart of Manhattan, had been in doubt as it was unclear if the United States would issue a visa.

Ultimately Washington granted the permit, but denied visas to several members of Pezeshkian’s entourage.

Soaring fuel prices threaten to cost Trump’s Republicans their control of Congress in November’s midterms, but the US president has sought to dismiss the domestic impact of the war.