Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian took the UNGA stage on Wednesday and turned his fire on Donald Trump on American soil.Referring to Trump’s remarks about the Islamic Republic a day earlier, Pezeshkian hit back at the US president’s labelling of Iran as “terrorist”.He said Iranians were in fact “victims of terrorism” and condemned US attacks on Iran.“I come from an Iran where, in truth, they bombed a school,” he added, referring to the US attack on Iran’s Minab primary school on the first day of the war.Pezeshkian also held up photographs of an Iranian school and sports complex, telling the international forum that the US had bombed the Islamic Republic and that Iranian children had perished in American-Israeli strikes.The Iranian president held up a photograph of Iranian schoolgirls killed in the attack on Minab.Pezeshkian also spoke about the killing of Iran’s longest-serving Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the American-Israeli strikes.“I come from an Iran in which our esteemed supreme leader was assassinated without any legal framework or reason,” he said.Pezeshkian also accused the United States of disregarding international law, saying that “United States does not respect any international law.”His repeated criticism of the United States from the UN podium prompted the US delegation to leave the meeting while Pezeshkian was speaking.But Pezeshkian did not stop there. He also took aim at close US ally Israel, which partnered with Trump in the strikes on Iran.In his address, the Iranian president said, “Israel kills, Tehran gets sanctioned,” while highlighting what he called American “double started.”He also pointed to Israel as the country that has “weapons of mass destruction”, not Iran.Pezeshkian made it clear that “Iran needs nuclear energy not nuclear bomb.”On the Strait of Hormuz, Pezeshkian also made Iran’s position clear, saying that “Hormuz strait cannot be used for passage of weapons that will be used against Iran.”Meanwhile, a day earlier, Trump had laid out what he described as a “big decision” over whether to pursue a deal with Iran or “drive Iran into hell with no chance of survival”.Presenting two stark options, Trump spoke of either striking a deal with Tehran or “annihilate” the Islamic Republic. He said a deal could allow Iran to rebuild and become “one of the greatest” countries in the Middle East or even the world.At the same time, Trump raised the possibility of destroying the Iranian regime “quickly”, saying he could deny it any chance to “kill and destroy again”.“I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before — maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness?” Trump said.
