Iran's president tells Trump it will never 'bend the knee'
Masoud Pezeshkian's defiant speech to the UN comes after the US president threatened to "annihilate" Iran if a peace deal is not agreed soon.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has told the UN General Assembly that it will never "bend the knee" after almost seven months of war with the US and Israel, but is ready for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Responding to US President Donald Trump's threat to "annihilate" the Islamic Republic if a deal is not reached soon, Pezeshkian said: "He must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying."
He also insisted any deal would have to include an end to the US blockade of Iranian ships and ports.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, has effectively been closed since the start of the war in late February due to Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and the US blockade.