Pezeshkian hails Pakistan-Saudi Arabia defence pact

UNITED NATIONS: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday Iran welcomed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, saying the arrangement could mark the beginning of a regional security framework.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Pezeshkian condemned the “ludicrous and delusional scheme of Greater Israel”.

“After nearly two years of genocide, mass starvation, the perpetuation of apartheid within the occupied territories and aggression against its neighbours, the ludicrous and delusional scheme of a ‘Greater Israel’ is being proclaimed with brazenness by the highest echelons of that regime,” said the Iranian president.

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Meanwhile, Pezeshkian also talked about the “sponsors” of Israel and the desire to use naked force — an obvious reference to US President Donald Trump.

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That’s why he said Israel and “its sponsors no longer even content themselves with normalisation through political means. Rather, they impose their presence through naked force, and have styled it peace through strength”.

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IRAN DOESN’T WANT NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Using the opportunity, Pezeshkian again made it clear that Iran has no intention of building nuclear weapons, just days before international sanctions could be reimposed on his country over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Therefore, he said, “I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek nuclear weapons.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” and repeated his assertions about how the United States bombed and destroyed the Iranian nuclear facilities.

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Meanwhile, Pezeshkian said the so-called E3 — France, Germany and Italy — had triggering the process to return UN sanctions on Iran at “the behest of the United States of America”.

“They circumvented legal obligations. They sought to portray Iran’s lawful remedial measures taken in response to the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as Iran nuclear deal] and to Europe’s breach and other incapacity as a gross violation.”

As Iran is pursuing a peaceful nuclear programme, Wednesday also signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Moscow and Tehran under which Russia will build eight nuclear power plants in Iran.