Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian accused Israel of seeking to stoke an all-out war in remarks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Monday, hours after Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah killed more than 35 people in Lebanon.
"We want to live in peace, we don't want war," Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by Reuters. "It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict."
“They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go,” Pezeshkian told the delegation from the US media, referring to recent Israeli attacks including explosions targeting Hezbollah’s communication infrastructure last week and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.
For that attack, Pezeshkian said Iran would "respond at the appropriate time and place, in an appropriate manner".
The event on Monday was followed by a public "correction" from Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, after reporters present said Pezeshkian had talked about reducing tensions with Israel.
"I deny reports from some media outlets claiming that the president said Iran is ready to de-escalate tensions with Israel," Araghchi said in a statement. "Mr. Pezeshkian has made no such statements at all."
Araghchi did not name the outlet, nor did he cited the quote he was denying. But it appears that he was referring to a sentence cited by some of the attendees including America journalist Laura Rozen.
“We are willing to put all of our weapons aside so long as Israel will do the same,” Rozen quoted Pezeshkian in her newsletter. “Let’s try to resolve tensions through dialogue."
More than 356 were killed in Lebanon on Monday, including 21 children, according to the country’s health ministry, as Israel hit hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon in the deadliest day in the country since the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990.
The air strikes have heightened concerns that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could spiral into a larger regional war, with Hezbollah’s ties to Iran at the center of tensions.
Pezeshkian is scheduled to meet several world leaders at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The crisis in Lebanon and Gaza is expected to dominate his bilateral meetings and discussions, especially with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Pezeshkian’s trip to the United States has raised hackles on Persian social media, where users have criticized the size of his delegation of about 40 including his two sons, daughter, and son-in-law.
The group also includes the three key figures of Iran's nuclear negotiating team in 2015: former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and now a vice president; the foreign minister Abbas Araghchi; and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Araghchi’s deputy.
The trio are proponents of normalization with the West and will likely convey a conciliatory message from Iran’s new administration whilst in New York.
Araghchi would not meet anyone from the Biden administration, he was quoted as saying by Iranian state media, calling such an encounter "not expedient".
