Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to portray his country as the “victim of terrorism” at the hands of the United States and Israel, launching a sustained attack on President Donald Trump’s policies while making no mention of his own government’s record.
“The United States president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism,” Pezeshkian said in his opening remarks, according to Breitbart News. He invoked the killing of Iran’s former Supreme Leader, claiming it happened “without any legal framework or reason.”
The speech, delivered one day after Trump’s own UNGA address, amounted to a point-by-point rebuttal of Washington’s accusations against Tehran โ and a wholesale reframing of Iran’s role in the region.
An Appeal to Victimhood
Central to Pezeshkian’s argument was the claim that Iran has “only defended ourselves” against aggression. “We are not terrorists. 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.
He further asserted that Iran responded to attacks โbut we did not hit civilian populations.โ Breitbart noted that this is contradicted by Iran’s military strategy, which has centered on civilian targets on land and at sea, and by the regime’s lethal crackdown on its own domestic uprising before the recent war.
Pezeshkian made no reference to Iran’s history of sponsoring terrorist groups across the Middle East, nor to its ongoing role in attacks on neighboring countries and civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz. He also criticized Israel for assassinating Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil, framing it as an unlawful act rather than the targeting of one of the architects of the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Nuclear Claims and the Watchdog Record
On the nuclear file, Pezeshkian argued that Iran’s program is purely peaceful. “For our country, peaceful nuclear technology is part of our inherent progress. For our sick people, it is cure and treatment. For the agricultural sector, it is food security. For industry, it is advancement and progress,” he said.
That characterization is at odds with findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has repeatedly documented that Iran enriched uranium to levels far beyond any civilian use and concealed its activities from inspectors. According to Breitbart, the IAEA Board of Governors found Iran in breach of its nuclear obligations in June 2025, and in non-compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in September 2026.
Pezeshkian acknowledged the non-compliance posture โ a stance that raises fresh questions about Tehran’s willingness to negotiate. He said Iran “does not accept for nuclear technology to be at the exclusive disposal of a handful” of nations. He did, however, suggest that if the world provided “the needed security to the people and nation of Iran,” the regime might become more flexible. The comment, as reported, was the closest the speech came to offering a diplomatic opening.
Gaza, ‘Resistance,’ and the October 7 Omission
A large portion of the address was devoted to the war in Gaza. Pezeshkian claimed that more than 80,000 civilians have been killed and accused Israel of genocide, saying that Israel uses “so-called technologies” against Palestinians and then “label[s] others as terrorists.”
What the speech did not include, according to Breitbart, was any mention of the October 7 atrocities that triggered the war or Iran’s sponsorship of Hamas. Instead, Pezeshkian framed Palestinian violence as an inevitable response to displacement. “If a human being is driven from his or her land, they will resist. If their homes are subjected to bombings and aggression and attacks, they will resist. What other choice do they have? Succumb to bullying?” he said.
Iran’s president also invoked the “resistance” framework repeatedly, according to the account, a rhetorical move that critics say serves to legitimize terrorism.
Strait of Hormuz and ‘Hegemony’ Claims
Pezeshkian sought to justify Iran’s posture in the Strait of Hormuz, telling delegates that Iran “cannot let some have free access and gain their interests from a waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggressions upon us.”
Breitbart characterized the remarks as an attempt to justify a scheme of extorting protection money in the strait, noting that the demands carry weight only because Iran has demonstrated a willingness to attack and kill sailors from multiple countries. The outlet added that the U.S. blockade referenced by Pezeshkian was imposed after Iran began launching attacks on civilian vessels.
Pezeshkian also insisted the Islamic Republic “does not wish to use our power for hegemony,” despite what Breitbart described as vast spending on a regional network of terrorist proxies โ Hamas, Hezbollah, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen โ all of which, the outlet said, continue to launch deadly attacks at Iran’s direction.
He attempted to explain attacks on neighboring states by saying that “warfare knows no borders” and that “crisis in one land will spill into the surrounding nations.”
Domestic Protests and a Direct Rebuke of Trump
Turning to events inside Iran, Pezeshkian claimed that over the past seven months Iranians have taken to the streets nightly in support of their homeland. He said they were demonstrating to prevent “those who were equipped and trained and armed by Israel and America” from disrupting the country’s security โ a framing Breitbart described as regime propaganda that depicts innocent civilians killed by Iran as foreign operatives.
Pezeshkian concluded by directly addressing Trump’s UNGA remarks from the previous day, saying the U.S. president’s speech “goes against the very essence and charter and the spirit of the United Nations.”
“He must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying,” Pezeshkian said. “We will never bow our heads, or bend at the knee.”
The address follows a pattern common to UNGA speeches delivered by the Islamic Republic’s leaders, and it landed without acknowledgment of the record โ from support for terrorism to nuclear concealment โ that U.S. and Israeli officials have cited in justifying their pressure campaign. For the delegations in the hall, the speech offered a version of Iran that bore little resemblance to the one described by its adversaries.
Source: www.breitbart.com โ https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2026/09/23/irans-president-rails-at-trump-bullying-at-u-n-iran-is-victim-terrorism/