Pezeshkian: "Nuclear Weapons Are Unnecessary... We Cannot Give Up Peaceful Nuclear Technology"

【Financial News, New York—Correspondent Lee Byung-chul】Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said from the United Nations General Assembly podium that "Iran needs peaceful nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons," reaffirming that the country would not give up peaceful nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment. His remarks directly countered United States President Donald Trump's warning the previous day that he had attacked Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons and could "annihilate" Iran if no agreement was reached. The United States delegation left the UN General Assembly hall during President Pezeshkian's speech.
Speaking at the general debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 23 (local time), President Pezeshkian said, "Peaceful nuclear technology is an essential part of our country's development." He added, "Iran does not accept nuclear technology becoming the exclusive tool of a small number of countries."
He also made his position on Iran's nuclear policy clear.
President Pezeshkian stated, "We say this clearly: nuclear weapons are not acceptable, but there should be no restrictions on peaceful nuclear technology." His remarks effectively rejected the United States' demand that Iran give up its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iran maintains that its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, but the United States, other Western countries and Israel have suspected that Iran is seeking to acquire the capability to produce nuclear weapons. The handling of enriched uranium is one of the key issues in negotiations between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the war.
President Pezeshkian strongly criticized the United States from the beginning of his speech. Referring to President Trump's criticism of Iran and its alleged ties to terrorism in his UN speech the previous day, he said, "The president of the United States portrayed us as terrorists," adding, "We were victims of terrorism."
During his speech, he held up a photograph of the late Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, who was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on the first day of the United States' and Israel's attacks on Iran. He also displayed photographs of children who had died in the airstrikes at the UN General Assembly podium.
During this sequence, the United States delegation in the UN General Assembly hall left while President Pezeshkian was speaking.


[email protected] Lee Byung-chul, correspondent Reporter