new york —
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s media appearances in Iran are strictly controlled.
But on Thursday, he sat down to answer questions from a group of journalists in New York. Despite being the leader of a country at war with the United States, he is visiting New York under the protection of the United States Secret Intelligence Service.
In a wide-ranging session a day after addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Pezeshkian reiterated familiar Iranian positions on the war, nuclear program and domestic dissent. He also spoke about the impact of sanctions on the Iranian people and insisted that Iran would never try to kill Donald Trump, despite the president and U.S. officials accusing the regime of plotting to assassinate the president.
The comments were made at the Millennium Hilton Hotel, just a stone’s throw from the United Nations headquarters, where Iran’s president on Wednesday vowed “not to yield” as the war with the United States drags on.
During the press conference, Pezeshikian also spoke about his recent meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the start of the war, and said the leader was in “excellent health”.
Speculation about Khamenei’s health has increased in recent months after it was revealed that he was seriously injured in the US and Israeli attack that killed his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei early in the conflict in February.
Regarding Khamenei’s condition, Pezeshkian said: “There were no major problems with his health or appearance,” adding that the most recent face-to-face meeting took place about a month ago and lasted about seven hours.
During the meeting, the two men put pillows on the ground, got up and walked around, Pezeshkian said. Despite his injuries, U.S. intelligence assesses that Khamenei still plays a key role in formulating war strategy with senior Iranian officials, multiple sources said in May.
It is already virtually unprecedented for an Iranian delegation to be stationed in a country that is at war.
But on Thursday, as Iranian President and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi briefed reporters, including CNN, in a function room at a midtown Manhattan hotel, the scene became increasingly unconventional.
A State Department official said earlier this week that the visiting Iranian delegation is “admitted to the United States strictly for the purpose of representing the Islamic Republic of Iran before the United Nations” and must “confine its activities to UN-related business only.”
The official said Iranians “must seek and receive prior approval” from the State Department if they wish to travel outside of the immediate vicinity of United Nations Headquarters, John F. Kennedy International Airport, or the facilities of Iran’s mission to the United Nations.
Pezeshkian denied accusations that Iran was trying to kill the president, saying at a news conference: “The (Iranian government) will never attempt to assassinate President Trump or his family, either overtly or covertly.”
Last month, the U.S. Secret Service said it was aware of footage broadcast by Iranian state television that appeared to threaten the life of the president’s youngest son, Barron Trump. This happened after Israel shared information with the United States that Iran had hatched a plot to assassinate Donald Trump. In late 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced federal charges for thwarting an Iranian plot to kill President Trump before the presidential election.
Iran’s hard-line media outlets have repeatedly featured content threatening the lives of President Trump and his family. At the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral in July, regime supporters could be seen holding up posters reading “Kill Trump”. President Trump has also publicly discussed Iran’s threat to his life, saying in July, “I’m on any list… So far, I think we’ve been a little bit lucky, but that probably won’t last long. They’re evil, sick people.”
In response to Pezeshkian’s comments, White House press secretary Anna Kelly said, “The Iranian regime has killed thousands of its own citizens, killed Americans abroad, carried out acts of terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz, and launched indiscriminate attacks against neighboring countries in the region.”
“The president has bravely ensured that these evil countries never acquire nuclear weapons, and the whole world will be safer and more stable if they do,” Kerry said.
Mr. Pezeshkian also discussed the domestic challenges facing Iran. US sanctions and the ongoing war are choking the country’s economy, causing rising prices and shortages of basic necessities.
The Iranian president also said at the meeting that while Iran wants a deal, any deal would have nothing to do with the timing of the US midterm elections.
Separately, also on Thursday, Araghchi said he had presented the United States with a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart negotiations toward a “final deal,” according to Iran.
The proposal, which was presented to the United States through a mediator this week, requires the United States to meet certain conditions within seven days in order to restart talks and reopen the strait, Araghchi said. The foreign minister did not give details of the terms, but said they were no more than what was included in the Islamabad memorandum.
The agreement, reached in June, included provisions for sanctions relief. Release of frozen assets. and the suspension of military operations, including in Lebanon.
In response to Araguchi’s comments, a White House official told CNN that they were having “positive and constructive discussions through a mediator.”
Iran’s economy was in a dire state even before the war began, and its poor conditions were a major factor in the anti-regime protests that began in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in 2025.
“We have a problem. It’s an unprecedented and difficult problem,” Pezeshkian told reporters Thursday, calling the U.S. sanctions a “silent murder campaign.”
Similar to his address to world leaders on Wednesday, Mr. Pezeshkian seemed confident at the news conference that Iran would prevail despite the challenges it faces. He also claimed that US military bases in the region are being used to attack Iran and are legitimate targets.
“Most of the US military bases in the region are no longer usable,” he claimed.
Iranian airstrikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at U.S. military bases in the Middle East region during the first months of the war, according to an official Pentagon monitoring report released earlier this month.
“Of course, the United States has the power to destroy anywhere, but it is impossible to force Iran to surrender,” Pezeshkian said.
