In his first gathering with foreign press since taking office in August, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian offered Israel an armistice amid worsening tensions gripping the Middle East, but at the same time warned Israel was attempting to instigate a broader conflict in the region.
Pezeshkian told reporters at a gathering on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that “we are willing to put all of our weapons aside, so long as Israel is willing to do the same.” He then called out international forces that have become increasingly involved in regional affairs, asserting that “we cannot have outside actors come in, arm one side to the teeth and prevent the other side from having the means to defend themselves.”
The remarks came as Iran continues to vow vengeance over the killing of Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was slain in Tehran just hours after Pezeshkian was sworn into office in late July. The attack, Pezehskian affirmed, “will not go unanswered,” though he cautioned against actions that could be viewed as escalatory on the part of his government as “we do not wish to be the cause of instability in the region” and “everyone loses” if such a war erupts.
He argued that Haniyeh’s killing and other actions attributed to Israel “were traps laid by Israel in order to cowardly drag us in” to a regional conflict looming over the ongoing war in Gaza. The Iranian president also cast blame on the United States for its repeated promises of peace despite Israel-Hamas negotiations apparently remaining deadlocked.
“We tried to not respond [to Haniyeh’s killing],” Pezeshkian said. “They kept telling us we are within reach of peace, perhaps in a week or so. But we never reached this elusive peace. Everyday Israel is committing more atrocities and killing more people, old, young, men, women, children, hospitals, other facilities.”
And while Pezeshkian argued Iran had displayed restraint in its previous, unprecedented strike against Israel in April in response to the killing of senior Iranian military officials at a consular building in Syria, he stated that Iran remained capable of thwarting Israel’s defense systems, including the Iron Dome, to inflict even wider destruction.