GNN, NEW YORK: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has strongly criticised the United States during his address to the 81st United Nations General Assembly, saying Iran has been a victim of terrorism rather than a perpetrator. Displaying photographs of Iranian students reportedly killed in a U.S. strike, Pezeshkian challenged Washington’s characterisation of Iran and its leadership.

“The American president called us terrorists. We are victims of terrorism,” Pezeshkian said during his address at the UN General Assembly. He said he came from an Iran where, according to Tehran, the country’s Supreme Leader was killed without due legal process or justification, and where a school was bombed.

Pezeshkian also referred to the bombing of a school in Minab, southern Iran, which resulted in the deaths of students and other civilians. Iranian authorities have attributed the attack to the United States, while the circumstances and responsibility for the strike have been the subject of international scrutiny.

Responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s warnings and criticism of Iran, Pezeshkian said Iran would not surrender under military pressure. “Iran will never kneel,” he said, while also emphasising Tehran’s willingness to pursue dialogue and diplomacy rather than accept what he described as a policy of coercion.

Pezeshkian’s address came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States and was one of the closely watched speeches at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. His remarks placed Iran’s civilian casualties, national sovereignty and opposition to military pressure at the centre of Tehran’s message to the international community.