Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly that Iran will never 'bend the knee' to US pressure, rejecting President Donald Trump's threat to 'annihilate' the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian, speaking at the UN in New York, accused the US of labeling Iran as terrorists and described the country's people as victims of 'cowardly attacks' and 'aggressions' imposed by the US and Israel.

Pezeshkian also emphasized that any diplomatic resolution to the conflict must include an end to the US blockade of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments pass. 'It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access,' he said. The US delegation walked out of the chamber at the start of Pezeshkian's address, with no immediate response from Washington.

Pezeshkian presented photographs of the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strike in late February, and of over 175 civilians, two-thirds of them children, whom Iranian authorities say were killed in missile strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd. The US has denied striking Lamerd and said it is still investigating what happened in Minab.

An attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz killed an Indian sailor, according to Agence France-Presse, citing Omani and Indian authorities. India's foreign ministry condemned the attack and called for unimpeded passage through the Strait to be restored. In February, Iran retaliated for the US-Israeli air campaign by launching missile and drone attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting US military bases, effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz by attacking commercial vessels.

The US responded by imposing a blockade of Iranian ports and ships in April. In June, the US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait, but it collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade. Iran seeks to retain control over the strait and collect fees from vessels using it, a demand the US has rejected.

In his UN address, Trump said he faced a 'big decision'—either negotiate a deal allowing Iran to rebuild its country or 'annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly.' Pezeshkian called the threat 'a sign of a bullying mentality' and warned that 'the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying.' He added that Iran is 'ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force.'

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff held indirect talks brokered by Qatari mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Witkoff said he hoped the discussions—first since June—would 'prove constructive and promising,' but Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai said the talks were 'not anything new' and that Araghchi had maintained Iran's conditions, including the end of the US blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.