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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed geopolitics in his first presidential press conference that was aired by IRINN TV (Iran) on September 16, 2024. He said that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons but that it will not put up with "their tyranny" nor will it tolerate "an Israel armed to its teeth." Pezeshkian said that Iran needs missiles in order to defend itself from Israeli aggression and that it has never started a war. He denied providing the Houthis in Yemen with hypersonic missiles that they had tested by launching against Israel, and he claimed that the Houthis have the technology to produce such missiles and have been doing so since before the war in Gaza started.
Interviewer: "Did Iran test a hypersonic missile by launching it against Israel from Yemen, during the crisis of Israel's war against Gaza?"
Masoud Pezeshkian: "Currently, there is a one week delay when sending personnel to Yemen. It takes one week for a person to get to Yemen from here, because of the obstacles. How would a missile get to Yemen unnoticed? It cannot be like this. Also, we do not have the kind of missile that [the Houthis] launched.
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"The U.S. and the Europeans give [Israel] bombs, missiles, airplanes, and also defend them. If [the Westerners] are concerned about Israel's security, why don't they worry about Gaza, Palestine, and the people that [Israel] assassinates? This is the problem: Human Rights [organizations] and the civilized world should not allow some people to use the support of certain powers in bombing and annihilating innocent civilians, and then complain that Iran gave [the Houthis] missiles. They know that Iran cannot send missiles [to Yemen]. It takes a person an entire week to get there, and he has to pass through several routes, so how would a missile get there? In addition, we do not have those missiles in Iran."
Interviewer: "Iran has hypersonic [missiles]..."
Pezeshkian: "We have hypersonic missiles, but we do not have that particular kind. We do launch missiles ... Let's say...
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"We now send satellites to space. We do have missile capabilities, but to claim we supply [the Houthis] with missiles... They have this technology. They learned it before the start of this war [in Gaza]. They are producing their own [missiles].
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"We are committed to the framework of the agreement with the U.S. and Europe. We do not seek nuclear weapons. They are the ones threatening us. They tell us not to have missiles. Very good, we won't have them, but you have to disarm Israel. Without any missiles, [Israel] would bomb us anytime it likes, just like in Gaza, and if we try to protest this, they will tell us to shut up. You need to have power in order to withstand another power. In order to protect our people and country, we need defensive capabilities to defend ourselves. We have never started any war.
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"We will not give up the defensive capabilities needed to defend our people, unless everybody in the world or in the region is also disarmed. In that case, we can live together in peace. We are not looking to wage wars."
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Interviewer: "Mr. President, are you willing to meet with the American President if needed – for example, with Mr. Trump, if he is elected?"
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Pezeshkian: "The [Americans] would have to prove their intentions first. First, we have to make sure that what both sides agree upon is not later ripped to pieces. They need to let us live our lives. Then, we can have a conversation. We do not want to fight.
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"First, they have to show us that they have no animosity towards us, since we have no animosity towards them. It is not us who have built [military] bases all around the U.S. We did not sanction the Americans. They are the ones with the bases [in the region] and the ones threatening and sanctioning us. If they stop, we can be brothers. No problem.
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"We are not seeking nuclear weapons, but we will not put up with their tyranny. We will not tolerate an Israel that is armed to the teeth, and if we say anything, they threaten us with an Israeli attack, as if it is a monster in hiding. [Israel] would not dare hit us, because we would retaliate."
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Interviewer: "The IAEA is always concerned about the 60% uranium enrichment in Iran. To what extent will this level of enrichment continue under your administration? How do you address the concerns of the IAEA?"
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Pezeshkian: "We have said time and again that we do not want to do this. We are trying to meet our scientific and technical needs. We are not seeking nuclear weapons.
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"They [in the West] are producing nuclear bombs. They are the ones making heavy weaponry that can annihilate people, we do not have this capability. They already produced [nuclear weapons], but object to us making one. So what should we do? Let you come and kill us?"
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