‘They bombed a school’: Iran president tells UN ‘we have been the victims of terrorism’ prompting US delegate walk-out
Masoud Pezeshkian's remarks come a day after Trump threatened to drive Iran “into hell”
Iran’s president has accused the United States of branding his country “terrorists” as he launched a fierce defence of Tehran during a speech to the United Nations.
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Masoud Pezeshkian began his speech by responding directly to remarks made by Donald Trump the previous day.
Mr Trump threatened to drive Iran “into hell” and asked whether he should "annihilate the Islamic Republic” during his speech to world leaders in New York on Tuesday.
“The United States president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism,” the Iranian president told the UN General Assembly.
He said he came from an Iran where the country’s supreme leader had been assassinated “without any legal framework or reason”.
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Pezeshkian then held up photographs of children he said were killed when a school in Minab was bombed in February.
“They bombed a school,” he said, describing the children as innocent and saying they had “committed no crimes, no sins”.
A member of the US delegation was seen leaving the conference hall just minutes into the Iranian president’s address.
The president then turned to the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran will not surrender in the war with the United States, but believes in diplomacy to try to end the conflict.
The Strait, a conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the war, has become a focus of tensions between Iran and the US.
"It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access to shipping through this waterway.
"The permanent deployment of hostile fleets and the expansion of the war will not lead to peace," Pezeshkian said.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump used his UN General Assembly speech to make the case for the war on Iran, warning that he could "annihilate the Islamic Republic" if no deal is reached to end the conflict.
"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?" Trump said.
"Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?
Continuing in his defence of his country, Pezeshkian said: "For the past two centuries, Iran has not attacked any country or any territory, but we've always defended ourselves steadfastly.
"But now we're being accused of being source of instability in the region, or we're labelled terrorists?"
The path Iran has chosen for itself "requires power", Pezeshkian added.