Iran Hopes For Nuclear Agreement, President Says

UNITED NATIONS — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday emphasized his openness to a new international agreement over his country’s nuclear program — a subject that has fueled global tensions for years, risking potentially catastrophic warfare between Iran and the U.S.

Pezeshkian slammed Washington for supporting Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza and attacks elsewhere in the Middle East, including in Lebanon and Iran itself. But he also repeatedly arguedTehran does not want regional conflict and hinted he is attuned to outsiders’ concerns about Iranian activity, from the country’s transparency about its nuclear development to its role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“In what language do we need to tell the world we do not seek instability?” Pezeshkian asked several times.

The Iranian president made his remarks at a briefing with a select group of journalists amid the annual high-level gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York.

The comments came amid growing anxiety over a sweeping regional conflagration that could occur if full-scale war breaks out between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which have been striking each other since the Israel-Hamas war began. On Monday, Israeli strikes killed close to 300 Lebanese people, local authorities said .

And the setting — Pezeshkian’s first major interaction with foreign press, during his first trip to the U.S. since his election in July — sent its own signals about Iran’s desire to engage. The president was flankedby Javad Zarif and Abbas Araghchi, two Iranian officials who helped craft the landmark 2015 deal limiting Iran’s nuclear development in exchange for relief from international sanctions. Pezeshkian has