President Masud Pezeshkian claims that Iran has not transferred any weapons to Russia since he took office in late July and seemed to open the door for direct talks with the United States over nuclear issues, but only if Washington shows it is not “hostile” toward the Islamic republic.
The 69-year-old Pezeshkian, deemed a relative moderate by some observers, on September 16 also took a belligerent tone, declaring that his country will never give up its controversial missile program, despite Western sanctions aimed at limiting such activities.
Pezeshkian — who assumed office on July 30 after winning an election to succeed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi after his death in a helicopter crash in May — was speaking in Tehran in his first official press conference.
The nationally televised event came at a time of high tensions, both inside Iran and throughout the Middle East.
Iran is facing major economic difficulties, much of it brought on by Western sanctions, and growing anger among citizens, led by women’s groups, over human rights violations at home.
A female journalist told Pezeshkian during the news conference that she had to take alternative routes to reach the event to avoid so-called morality police officers, who enforce strict conservative dress requirements for women, often using brutal measures and drawing sharp rebukes from rights groups.
During the news conference, the president said he would use his authority to ensure that the morality police do not “bother” women.
“Morality police were not supposed to confront [women]. I will follow up so they don’t bother” them, he said, although it remains unclear how much authority he would actually have to make changes.
Tehran has also faced Western condemnation and new sanctions over moves to send weapons to Russia that the Kremlin has used to attack Ukrainian forces and civilians, especially deadly Shahed drones.
More recently, media reports have suggested that Tehran has provided the Kremlin with powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
“It is possible that a delivery [of some weapons] took place in the past…but I can assure you that since I took office, there has not been any such delivery to Russia,” he said.
Asked whether Tehran would be open to holding direct talks with the United States to restart the 2015 nuclear deal with global powers, Pezeshkian said: “We are not hostile toward the U.S. They should end their hostility toward us by showing their goodwill in practice.”
“We are brothers with the Americans as well.”
As president, Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally pulled the United States out of the landmark nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and also signed by China, France, Russia, Britain, and Germany.
Trump also reimposed crippling financial sanctions against Tehran.
President Joe Biden has sought to restart the agreement, although Washington and Tehran — meeting through third parties — have disagreed on terms.
Pezeshkian insisted that Tehran was not seeking to enrich uranium at near-weapons-grade levels but that it was forced to by the U.S. withdrawal from the pact.
“I think, we said many times, we don’t want to do this at all. We want to solve our technical and scientific needs We are not looking for nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said in response to a question by AP.
“We adhered to the framework written in the [nuclear agreement]. We are still looking to maintain those frameworks. They tore them, they forced us to do something.”
Tehran and Washington have not had diplomatic relations since 1980, when U.S. President Jimmy Carter broke off ties amid the Iran hostage crisis.
Pezeshkian claimed Iran will never give up its missile program, claiming it is needed for security in a troubled region and where, he said, Israel is able to “drop missiles on Gaza every day,” referring to that country’s war with Hamas movement, declared a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.
Pezeshkian also denied that Iran had sent hypersonic missiles to Yemen’s Huthi rebels that have been used to target ships in the Persian Gulf and as of September 15 have been launched at Israel.
