Iran’s president gives a rare wartime speech at the U.N.

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York, on Wednesday.

John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images

John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Iran’s president gave a rare speech in New York by a country at war with the United States on Wednesday, a day after President Trump threatened from the same podium to “annihilate” Iran.

“Yesterday the United States president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly.

He proceeded to hold up a portrait of the late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. He then held up photos of children he said were the victims of a U.S. bombing of an Iranian school.

Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, President Trump said he faced a big decision: Make a deal with Iran that lets them rebuild or “annihilate the Islamic Republic.” He also reiterated that he would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

Trump later said U.S. officials had met with Iranians for three hours. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told NPR’s Morning Edition on Wednesday that the administration is “internalizing what they brought to the table.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said on social media that an exchange of messages between Iran and the U.S. had taken place with Qatar as mediator. He said Iran’s conditions included halting U.S. hostilities, an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and the release of Iranian funds.

Pezeshkian denied at the U.N. that Iran wanted a nuclear weapon but refused limitations on the country’s civilian nuclear program. He also expressed a willingness to negotiate.

“It must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he said.

NPR Topics: News wp:paragraph