Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian cast Tehran as a peaceful victim of American and Israeli aggression during an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, expressing a readiness for further negotiations while downplaying Iran’s state sponsorship of terror, nuclear escalation and regional strikes.

Addressing the assembly a day after President Donald Trump threatened to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal is not reached, Pezeshkian claimed Tehran has never sought nuclear weapons and painted its atomic program as strictly intended for energy and medical research.

“Iran does not accept for nuclear technology to be at the exclusive disposal of some of a handful. We say it clearly: no nuclear weapons and no limitations to peaceful nuclear technology,” he said.

Pezeshkian’s portrayal of a purely civilian nuclear program contradicts assessments from the International Atomic Energy Agency and U.S. intelligence, which have repeatedly warned that Iran has enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade purity — a threshold with no credible non-military application. Satellite intelligence has also found ongoing construction and activity at fortified Iranian nuclear facilities, despite Tehran’s public denials.

The Iranian leader also sought to frame his country as a “victim of terrorism” at the hands of Washington and Jerusalem, deflecting from Tehran’s decades-long role as the premier state sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East. Pezeshkian falsely accused the U.S. and Israel of intentionally targeting civilians while insisting Iran acts only in self-defense.

Pezeshkian also rebuffed Trump’s claims that Iran is a “source of instability” and claimed that Tehran rather seeks to “cooperate and collaborate for security.”

“We responded, but we did not hit civilian populations. They came into surrounding territories and targeted our universities, our healthcare centers, our schools, our hospitals, our infrastructures — all of it against international law,” he said. Iran has repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure during the war with the U.S., including hotels, airports and economic centers across the Gulf and Israel.

Pezeshkian also attempted to pivot toward diplomacy, claiming Iran has always maintained a “commitment to the negotiating table,” but insisted Tehran would “not accept the language of force.”

The Iranian president also accused the international community of enforcing a “double standard” by penalizing Tehran with sanctions while allowing Israel to operate outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) framework.

“The nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran. Israel kills, but Iran is subject to sanctions,” he said. Israel has never publicly acknowledged operating a nuclear weapons program.