Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Iran was not seeking to start a wider war in the Middle East and that such a conflict would have no winners.
“We don’t want war… We want to live in peace,” Pezeshkian told reporters during a visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
“We do not want to be the cause of instability in the region.”
Pezeshkian called for dialogue to resolve the volatile situation in the Middle East and accused Israel of stoking tensions and provoking conflict, citing assassinations in Tehran and elsewhere that he accused Israel of carrying out.
“We know better than anyone that if a larger war were to break out in the Middle East, it would benefit no one in the world. It is Israel that is seeking to create this larger conflict,” he said.
Pezeshkian’s remarks come as U.S. officials fear an open war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group. Israeli airstrikes killed more than 180 people and wounded nearly 730 on Monday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, a dramatic expansion of Israeli airstrikes.
The Iranian president also lashed out at the United States and other Western countries for what he called a double standard, criticizing Iran on human rights issues but ignoring Israel’s “atrocities” in Gaza.
Asked about the possibility of negotiating a new deal with the United States on its nuclear program, Pezeshkian said Iran was not interested in a new nuclear deal but in a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement from which the United States withdrew in 2018.
“Let’s go back to step one,” he said.
If all parties respect the agreement, Tehran could then consider new negotiations, the president said.
Pezeshkian, who was elected earlier this year and presents himself as a moderate, also said Iran cannot dictate to Houthi forces that attack ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis, he said, are responding to what he called the unjust situation of Palestinians in Gaza.
“How can we ask them to refrain?” he asked. “They are trying to stop genocide.”
Asked about claims by U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran was trying to promote anti-Israel protests on American campuses, Pezeshkian dismissed the accusation as “childish.”
People around the world are protesting because they are outraged by the situation in Gaza and do not need to be bribed to take to the streets, he added.
The United States and its allies say Iran has supplied Russia with armed drones and ballistic missiles for its war against Ukraine, but Pezeshkian has denied that Tehran is arming Russia with missiles.
He said Iran opposed “Russian aggression” against Ukraine and called for dialogue to resolve the conflict.
In an interview with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif echoed the Iranian president’s comments and said his government was ready to work with other countries to end the conflict in Gaza.
“We want to move towards a more peaceful and stable world for our citizens and for the citizens of the world. We are not seeking war, but we will defend ourselves,” Zarif said.
The vice president also said Iran had the right to retaliate at its own convenience for what he called a clear violation of Iran’s sovereignty in the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the capital Tehran in July. Iran has accused Israel of orchestrating the attack. Israel has not publicly confirmed that it was behind the attack.
After the assassination, Zarif said, “the international community asked us to exercise restraint in order to end the war in Gaza.” But the promise of a ceasefire never materialized, he added.
Zarif played a major role in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers while he was foreign minister. The agreement imposed strict limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of U.S. and international sanctions.
The Biden administration has expressed concern about Iran’s advancing nuclear program and U.N. restrictions on inspections of nuclear sites. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said Tehran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium for an atomic bomb within a week or two if it wanted to.
But Zarif said the United States had only itself to blame, as he claimed it was the United States that withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“It was the Trump administration’s miscalculation that led to its withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Everyone loses,” Zarif said.
Earlier Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was “focused on launching a new round of nuclear negotiations.”
“We are ready, and if the other parties are also ready, we can have a new start of discussions during this trip,” he said in a video posted on Telegram, adding that he planned to stay in New York for an extended period.
In 2018, Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark deal signed under Obama, complaining about Iran’s ballistic missile program and growing influence in the region. The move dismayed some U.S. allies and angered Iran.
The United States does not expect to hold talks with the Iranian government in the near future, a senior Biden administration official said Monday.
The U.S. official said the United States continues to show Iranian officials what it expects from their leaders if they are serious about changing the country’s standing in the international community. Yet Iran is selling ballistic missiles to the Russian government, he added, a move that is fueling the war in Ukraine.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned that Iran is continuing to enrich uranium beyond what is needed for commercial nuclear use. At the same time, Iran has also blocked UN inspectors from visiting some sites of its nuclear program.
The exact extent of Iran’s nuclear capabilities remains unclear, although the country maintains that its nuclear program is for civilian, not military, purposes.
Iran’s apparent change in stance comes as Israel’s deadly months-long offensive in Gaza approaches the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks.
It comes as the United States prepares for a presidential election in just weeks.
In his comments, Araghchi said the “international situation” could make it “difficult to start negotiations.”
