Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian put forward a renewed position that Tehran has no intention of pursuing atomic weapons, characterising claims to the contrary as unfounded and expressing a preference for direct engagement with Washington over approaches based on pressure.
Pezeshkian delivered the remarks at a bilateral meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze held on the margins of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity — COP17 — convening in Yerevan, Armenia. The comments were attributed to a statement posted by the Iranian president's office. He told Kobakhidze that Iran holds no pursuit of nuclear weapons and characterised the opposing narrative as false, framing the position as consistent with the stance against such weapons that the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had publicly articulated.
Tehran's position, as conveyed by the president, held that dialogue remained a viable path while any arrangement built on external compulsion would be rejected. Pezeshkian stated that attempts to extract submission through pressure would not succeed.
Pezeshkian also put forward the position that US-imposed sanctions on Iran fall short of humanitarian standards. He described strikes carried out by the United States and Israel against Iran as actions that inflicted harm on civilian populations.
Kobakhidze put forward Georgia's position that outside interference in the internal affairs of any sovereign nation runs counter to what the country stands for.
In a separate exchange with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Pezeshkian put forward the position that Washington ought to recognise Iran had no plans to back down, and that the country would pursue broader international engagement while drawing on domestic support and strengthened ties with neighbouring states. He contended that sanctions imposed by the United States had placed strain on Iran's economy and produced effects felt beyond its borders, adding that persisting with that policy path risked deepening those international consequences.
In a public address, Pezeshkian urged that any engagement with Washington rest on reasoned exchange and open dialogue rather than the application of pressure.
US President Donald Trump separately forecast that the fighting involving Iran would conclude within a short timeframe, adding that energy prices around the world stood to drop once the hostilities came to a close. Trump also put forward the position that Iran obtaining nuclear weapons would not be permitted.
Before departing Arizona for a rally in Montana, Trump told reporters he anticipated the conflict with Iran drawing to a close in the near term, and tied that prospect to a drop in energy prices and a strengthening of the domestic economy. He told the audience that household energy costs were set to drop at a considerable pace.
Gaps between the two leaders over Tehran's nuclear programme, the sanctions framework, and the active conflict have yet to close. Pezeshkian has pushed for talks and negotiated solutions, while Trump has maintained that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.
