‘We are ready’: Iran’s Pezeshkian challenges Trump with offer to open nuclear program to inspectors | Today’s news
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his country is willing to submit its nuclear program to international inspectors and has no ambitions to pursue a nuclear weapon.
In an interview with Brett Baier on Fox News on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) debate in New York, the Iranian president placed the blame for the conflict in the Middle East squarely on the United States of America.
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“Not at all. Not at all. Our martyred, respected supreme leader has announced several times that by religious decree it is unholy. It is illegal,” Pezeshkian said when asked if Iran wanted a nuclear bomb.
The president also said that Iran would comply with reducing the level of nuclear enrichment and monitoring by international inspectors. “So the weapon is a weapon of mass destruction. We said we’re willing to dilute it. It’s not a big deal. We’re willing to submit to verification,” he said.
He blames Trump for failing to implement the negotiated settlement
Pezeshkian also accused US President Donald Trump and the US party of failing to implement the negotiated agreement reached by the two sides in June this year.
“We reached an agreement with your president, that agreement was signed, and based on that, we are willing and still wish to move forward. And the framework was agreed upon. We did not close the Strait of Hormuz; it was open, without any legal justification or framework… They attacked us. They assassinated and tortured our respected supreme leader; our scientists are the military commanders and the Iranian government.”
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“The problem is that instead of having a dialogue, America is descending into the arena by bombing us first, blocking every route. We are ready,” he said, as quoted by news agency ANI from the interview.
209 days of the US-Iran war
The war between the US and Iran entered its 209th day on Friday, with both sides continuing to say they are ready for talks.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly, US President Donald Trump said he could “destroy” the Islamic Republic if an agreement is not reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Iran deal would require hard work and that Trump “has a number of options available, including military ones”.
Pezeshkian reiterated the position taken during his speech at the UN General Assembly, saying that the onus was on America to start the conflict, while Iran was merely defending itself.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Pezeshkian said Tehran wanted to restore its June truce with Washington ahead of November’s US mid-term elections, telling reporters: “We don’t want it to get to the mid-term elections.”
“We don’t want it to get to the midterm elections,” Pezeshkian told NBC News and other news organizations on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “We want the Americans to go back to the memorandum of understanding before it’s halfway through,” he added.
In an interview with Fox, he said: “We will resist. We will find ways and the life of our country will continue. But we do not wish to continue. It is America that has to decide whether it wants to end it or not,” the Iranian president said.
Iran’s president said that despite sanctions on Iran, they would not bend the knee to any foreign power and put the onus on the US administration to reach an agreement within an international legal framework.
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“If America thinks they can continue to sanction us, we have no business nor are we considering any type of American election. If the current American government within international legal frameworks wishes to reach an agreement, fine. If not, before the election or after the election, what difference does that make to us,” he said.
We are ready. It is America that has to choose whether to end it or not.
Pezeskhian’s claim puts the ball firmly in Donald Trump’s court. While the US president has indulged in the rhetoric of threatening to destroy Iran, he knows that a settlement would be the best way to end the conflict, now seven months old.
