Iran’s president says he’s prepared to ease tensions with Israel

Iran is prepared to de-escalate tensions with Israel as long as it sees the same level of commitment on the other side, President Masoud Pezeshkian said.

“We’re willing to put all our weapons aside so long as Israel is willing to do the same,” Pezeshkian told reporters Monday ahead of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “We’re not seeking to destabilize the region.”

Pezeshkian is in the U.S. for his first appearance at the U.N.’s annual gathering, where he’s scheduled to speak on Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the same summit two days later, though his travel itinerary hasn’t been finalized.

The Iranian president commented as tensions between Iran and Israel reach new heights after Tehran blamed Israel for being behind a large-scale explosion of pagers and walkie talkies that saw several killed and thousands of people injured in Lebanon — including Iran’s ambassador to Beirut. Iran has threatened to retaliate.

The attack — for which Israel has not confirmed or denied responsibility — was aimed at members of the Hezbollah terrorist group, which is backed by Iran. The Islamic Republic also sponsors Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza. Both are considered terrorist organizations by the United States, Canada and the European Union. In Yemen, Houthi terrorists, also backed by Tehran, have been carrying out attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea since last year.

Israel and Hezbollah are involved in an ongoing exchange of rocket fire. If that escalates into a full-blown regional war, the U.S. and Iran — which sees Hezbollah as the most important of its allied terrorist groups in the Middle East — would likely be dragged in.

Pezeshkian said Iran wants to see peace but will stand up in the face of injustices against its allies, who make their own decisions on military action. “They don’t take orders from anyone,” he said. “It’s not like Yemenis are waiting for us to tell them what to do or what not to do.”

“If a war erupts in the region, it would serve no one’s interest,” he said. “We don’t want to fight. It’s Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region.”

Pezeshkian reiterated that Iran didn’t know in advance about the Oct. 7 Hamas-lede terrorist attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, and said both the U.S. and Israel are aware. The terrorist group killed some 1,200 people and abducted about 250 more. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed about 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Deemed a reformer within the narrow range of Iranian politics, Pezeshkian has expressed his willingness to rekindle talks about Tehran’s broken nuclear deal with the West and will push for the U.S. to remove economic sanctions. He said Iran is willing to go back to the original accord, and said Tehran continues to moves toward the goals set in that agreement.

Pezeshkian, who took office in July after his hard-line predecessor died in a helicopter crash, also denied that Iran has provided Russia with weapons to support its war against Ukraine, contrary to U.S. assertions.

“We do not approve of Russian aggression against Ukraine,” he said. “We have not and we will not supply them with any ballistic missiles.”