Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed that Iran would never seek a nuclear weapon, citing a religious edict, or fatwa, from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that prohibits the development of weapons of mass destruction.
“I hereby declare once before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb,” Pezeskhian said. “We do not seek nuclear weapons. This is our belief based on the edict issued by the supreme leader and religious authorities.”
Khamenei made similar remarks a day earlier, pledging that Iran wouldn’t seek nuclear weapons but maintaining that Tehran wouldn’t give up its civilian nuclear enrichment program. His comments came a day after a group of Iranian MPs called for a reevaluation of the ban on nuclear weapons in the wake of the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic.
In his speech, Pezeshkian strongly condemned the Israeli and US airstrikes on Iran, calling it a “grave betrayal of diplomacy” since the war was launched under the cover of negotiations. Israel launched the first round of airstrikes on June 13, two days before Washington and Tehran were set to hold another round of nuclear talks.
“It is a black record of slaughter carried out by Israel in our country against our people, including women, children, and youth, under the name of preserving peace and security in the region,” the Iranian leader said.
“Assassination of state officials, systematic targeting of journalists, and the killing of individuals solely because of their knowledge and expertise are flagrant violations of human rights and international law,” Pezeshkian added.
The Iranian president also criticized France, the UK, and Germany for taking the step to trigger the “snapback” sanctions mechanism under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA. UN Security Council sanctions are now set to be reimposed on Iran on September 27.
Pezeshkian called the Europeans’ move to trigger the sanctions “illegal” and said it was carried out “at the order of the United States.” Iran’s position is that they don’t have the right to impose the sanctions since the US was the party that unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.
“They falsely presented themselves as ‘well-intentioned parties’ to the agreement, and labeled Iran’s sincere efforts as ‘insufficient.’ All of this was aimed at destroying the very JCPOA they themselves once called the greatest achievement of multilateral diplomacy,” he said.
