Iran's president tells UN: We will fight 'until our last breath'

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivered a defiant speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, calling the United States a terrorist aggressor and vowing Iran will fight "until our last breath," one day after President Donald Trump threatened to "annihilate" the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian held up photos of late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and 150 schoolchildren killed early in the nearly seven-month war, insisting "we have only defended ourselves" against U.S. and Israeli attacks. He directly addressed Trump, saying Iran is ready for dialogue but will not accept "the language of force." U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the speech as hypocritical, while Trump reported a three-hour indirect meeting between envoys and Iranian officials, though Tehran downplayed it as "not anything new." The address follows over a year of failed negotiations between the longtime adversaries, with intermittent attacks continuing in the Strait of Hormuz and commercial shipping below prewar levels. Pezeshkian, considered a moderate in Iran's political landscape, spoke under heavy security as the first foreign leader to address the world body while at war with the host nation.