Addressing the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Pezeshkian said, "We stood to the last breath to defend our dear Iran."
'We are victims of terrorism'
The president noted that the U.S. president declared yesterday that Iran is terrorist, emphasizing that Iran is, in fact, a victim of terrorism.
"I come from Iran, where our leader was assassinated without any legal reason or justification," he said. "I come from Iran, where a school was bombed. Look at the children of Minab — children who were bombed and killed. Israel and the U.S. martyred our children with their own weapons; our children had committed no sin."
He added, "Lamerd is a small town in Iran. Our children were exercising in a sports hall when the U.S. bombed the gymnasium with cluster bombs that split into thousands of pieces. They martyred our scientists, our people, our women and children. The terrorists and the nurturers of terrorism label us as terrorists. We only defended ourselves; we are not terrorists."
Iran did not bow
Referring to the enemy's unjust attacks, Pezeshkian said the U.S. and Israel targeted the country with their most advanced equipment, but the Iranian people defended their homeland with strength.
"They attacked us, but we did not bow to them. We responded to their attacks, but we did not attack their people," he stated.
He went on to say that the enemies targeted Iran's schools, hospitals, scientific centers, bridges and infrastructure, which was in violation of international law.
"Now is the time to test your rationality instead of gambling on others' illusions," the president said. "Iran has never been the initiator of war and has always shown its commitment to the negotiating table. The war was imposed on us, but we proved that we do not fear war to defend ourselves and do not flee from negotiations for peace. We stood to the last breath to defend our dear Iran."
Double standards
Pezeshkian said the theme of this session is restoring trust, emphasizing that trust is not built with words, but requires abandoning double standards.
"The nuclear bomb and other weapons of mass destruction in this region are in the hands of the Israeli regime, yet inspections are demanded from Iran!" he said. "Israel massacred 70,000 people in Gaza, but Iran was bombed while sitting at the negotiating table! Israel has the atomic bomb, is not a member of the NPT, has never allowed a single inspector into the occupied territories throughout its entire nefarious existence, yet it receives billions of dollars in free weapons as a reward and enjoys immunity to bomb any capital it wishes!"
He repeated, "The atomic bomb is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran! Israel kills, but Iran is sanctioned! The tragedy is that sanctions target the poor and innocent people, sacrificing them for sinister intentions."
"If we seek justice, friend and rival must be measured by the same standard, and human rights must not become a tool of geopolitical competition," the president stated. "Iran does not seek any special privilege; it wants equal rights and accepts its responsibility as well."
Call for peace and justice
Pezeshkian said Iran has learned one clear truth throughout its long history: a world without power is dangerous, but a world that only understands the language of power will not enjoy lasting security.
"If trust among nations is destroyed, even the most powerful armies will not be able to create lasting security," he warned. "If international law is only applied when it aligns with the interests of the powerful, more countries will conclude that they must rely solely on their own power to ensure their security — and this will be the beginning of a more dangerous world for all of us."
"We must not allow the 21st century to become an era of the return to coercive politics and the rule of the coercive," he said. "We must not build a world in which military power replaces legitimacy, sanctions replace diplomacy, assassination replaces politics, and war replaces dialogue."
Pezeshkian emphasized that Iran preserves its power and calls on the world not to another war, but to peace and justice — "not out of weakness, but out of confidence in our power and the understanding of this truth that no one in this region will have security alone."
"Either we will build security together, or we will endure insecurity together," he declared.
The president said Iran envisions a future in which security, justice and human dignity are common and inalienable rights for all nations — "a future in which no nation is marginalized, no voice is lost in the clamor of power, and no power has the right to determine the future of others on their behalf."
"An order worthy of being called international must be founded on the equality of nations, justice, fairness and the common will of humanity," Pezeshkian concluded, "because peace that is not for all is not peace, and justice that does not include all is not justice."
M.Majdi - H.Hakimzadeh
