Iran President to UN: 'We Will Never Bend the Knee' — SkimNews
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- Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the UN General Assembly on Sept 23 — his first speech since the US and Israel launched war on Iran — vowing Tehran would never 'bend at the knee' despite US sanctions and pressure.
- Pezeshkian accused the US of 'terrorism' for assassinating former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, holding up a photograph of the dead leader and insisting Tehran had never started the war.
- Donald Trump told the UN on Sept 22 he was weighing whether to 'annihilate' Iran but also publicly hailed renewed talks between Tehran and Washington's negotiators.
- Pezeshkian made no reference to those talks in his speech, signaling Tehran viewed the war as ongoing rather than the diplomatic opening Trump described.
- Iran has intermittently blockaded the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, causing global energy prices to spike; Pezeshkian vowed not to let the waterway be used for aggression against his country.
- Soaring fuel prices from the Hormuz disruption now threaten to cost Republicans control of Congress in November's midterms, per the source's framing.
- The United States initially left Pezeshkian's UN visa in doubt but ultimately granted it, while denying visas to several members of his entourage.
Why it matters: Iran's intermittent Strait of Hormuz blockade is already spiking global fuel prices enough to put the GOP's House majority at risk in November's midterms, and Pezeshkian's UN silence on Trump's claimed renewed talks leaves no diplomatic off-ramp in public view. The war's energy toll is now directly on the ballot.
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