Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned Friday that actions by President Donald Trump risk destabilizing the Middle East.
Speaking with NBC while in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, Pezeshkian’s comments followed Trump’s speech there earlier this week in which he asserted that U.S. attacks in June had destroyed Iran’s key nuclear site.
Pezeshkian framed Iran as defiant but cautious.
“We’re not afraid of war. We do not seek war,” he said. “President Trump has said that his administration has come to create peace, but the path they have embarked upon will set fire to the entire region.”
While Pezeshkian emphasized that Iran has never started a war, he vowed to strengthen its defenses against any attack.
The president, a former physician, also addressed a minor leg injury he suffered in the 12-day conflict with the U.S. and Israel in June, which left hundreds of Iranian civilians and senior military figures dead, along with 28 Israeli casualties.
On nuclear issues, Pezeshkian welcomed inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and criticized reports of new construction based on satellite imagery as unreliable.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has set firm limits on what the president could say. Khamenei announced earlier this week that Iran would not engage in direct talks with the United States.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to reimpose sanctions on Iran as early as Friday after a vote on a Russian-Chinese resolution to delay them.
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