Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday criticized a resolution passed by the UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors against Tehran’s nuclear activities, saying that Iran will continue its uranium enrichment and remain defiant in the face of Western pressure.
"Today, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany passed a resolution against Iran. I truly do not understand how we are supposed to cooperate with a world that keeps provoking us and refuses to let the people of this nation stand on their own and live independently," Pezeshkian said during a meeting with teachers, academics, and cultural figures in the western province of Ilam.
The remarks came a few hours after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board adopted a non-compliance resolution criticizing Iran for lack of cooperation with inspectors and its ongoing expansion of nuclear activities, which Western powers say could pose proliferation risks.
Reaffirming Tehran’s nuclear posture, Pezeshkian said, “We will continue on our path. We will carry on with enrichment and we will not back down from the current course. This is a national right, and we will not compromise.”
"We will build this country with our youth. Even if they destroy our facilities with bombs, the knowledge and capability remain in our minds, and we will rebuild everything no matter what they do.”
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, but its rapid expansion of enrichment activities and restrictions on international oversight have raised alarms in Washington and European capitals.
The resolution by the IAEA’s policy-making 35-nation board declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations marked the first in almost 20 years, raising the prospect of reporting it to the UN Security Council.
The decision follows years of escalating tensions between Iran and the Vienna-based agency, particularly after the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 under President Donald Trump, prompting the gradual collapse of the accord.
In response to the censure, an IAEA official said Iran had notified the agency of its intention of countermeasures such as establishing a new uranium enrichment facility.
Following the announcement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned Iran’s move, accusing Tehran of undermining the global Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and posing a serious threat to regional and international security.
Iran remains a signatory to the NPT, while Israel is not. Israel is widely believed to possess the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.
Withdrawal from the NPT is now under consideration at the Iranian parliament, the spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said after the resolution was passed.
Earlier in the day, a senior Israeli told Iran International that Israel is ready to launch a military strike on Iran if the next round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, set for Sunday in Oman, fails to yield results.
Hosseinnejad, a nail technician from Eslamshahr south of Tehran, vanished on her way home late last month, and her body was found days later riddled with stab wounds.
Police later arrested the man driving her, whose account of the murder varied from an altercation over payment to his alleged gendered slur that she had been "shameless", according to Iranian media citing police.
Voice messages and texts sent to Iran International's submissions line point to a deep well of shared trauma and anger in the male-dominated theocracy.
“I was nearly abducted in broad daylight,” one woman said. “I ran into a stranger’s house because I had no other way to escape. And this wasn’t even a remote place—this was a residential street.”
Dozens of accounts tell similar stories. One woman said her Snapp ride-hailing driver changed course three times, laughing when she protested. Another described how a man posing as a Tapsi driver sexually assaulted her on a highway outside Isfahan.
Snapp and Tapsi are Iran’s two leading app-based ride services modeled on Uber.
“These stories have always existed,” another woman said. “What Elahe’s death has done is rip the veil off.”
Hosseinnejad’s body was released under heavy security and buried without a public funeral.
Systemic fear and silence
In the messages submitted to Iran International, women described persistent sexual harassment in taxis, parks, workplaces and schools.
Some said they were assaulted while taking rides, others while walking to university or boarding a bus.
One woman described sitting quietly in a shared car when the driver suddenly pulled over and exposed himself. “I kicked the door open and ran,” she wrote. “But for weeks, he called me from different numbers, threatening to find me.”
“I went to file a complaint, and they asked if I had a witness,” another woman wrote. “I said if I had one, I wouldn’t be in this situation. They told me to drop it if I cared about my reputation.”
Several others shared versions of the same response: authorities demanding impossible evidence, mocking victims or advising them to stay quiet.
“The law is not on our side,” said another woman. “If something happens to you, they treat you like the criminal.”
Ride-hailing platforms in focus
Snapp and Tapsi, Iran’s dominant ride-hailing apps, came under renewed scrutiny following Hosseinnejad’s death.
Many contributors noted that both apps have faced growing criticism for weak driver vetting and limited response to complaints.
“I was 18, and the driver kept making crude comments,” one woman wrote. “When I reported him to Snapp, they told me they’d investigate. Nothing happened. He kept calling me from different phones.”
In several cases, riders said drivers had pressured them to adjust their clothing or implied they could be dropped off mid-trip to avoid fines under Iran’s hijab regulations.
“I wore my scarf just to avoid trouble,” wrote one student. “But the way they looked at me … it was like they were waiting for an opportunity.”
The cost of inequality
Women who contacted Iran International repeatedly returned to one point: gender-based inequality under the law.
“I don’t want revenge,” one woman said of Hosseinnejad’s accused killer. “I want justice. But how can there be justice when our lives are worth half as much under the law?”
Under Iranian law, murder is punishable by death, but when a man kills a woman, the victim’s family must first pay half the standard blood money—set annually by judicial authorities—to the killer’s family before an execution can take place. Activists say this devalues women’s lives and deters families from pursuing justice.
Elahe Hosseinnejad’s story has ignited anger—but also a grim sense of recognition. “She did everything right,” one woman said. “She worked, cared for her family, shared her beliefs—but still, she ended up dead."
That’s what terrifies us most.”
