Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s media appearances in Iran are tightly controlled affairs. But on Thursday he sat down to face questions from a group of journalists in New York, where despite being the leader of a country at war with the United States, he is visiting with the protection of the U.S. Secret Service. In the wide-ranging session, a day after addressing the UN General Assembly, Pezeshkian repeated familiar Iranian positions on the war, its nuclear program and dissent in Iran. He also talked about the effect of sanctions on the Iranian people, and claimed Iran would never try to kill Donald Trump – despite the U.S. president and U.S. authorities accusing the regime of plotting his assassination. The comments were made at the Millennium Hilton hotel, a stone’s throw from the UN headquarters where the Iranian president declared Wednesday that his country “will not bow down” as the war with the U.S. drags on. In the briefing, Pezeshkian also described recent meetings he had held with Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the outset of the war, saying that the leader was “quite healthy.” There has been mounting speculation in recent months over Khamenei’s health, after he was understood to have sustained serious injuries in the U.S.-Israeli attack that killed his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei at the beginning of the conflict in February. Speaking about Khamenei’s condition, Pezeshkian said, “I did not see any major challenges with his health or physical appearance,” adding that their most recent in-person meeting had taken place around one month ago and lasted around seven hours. Pezeshkian said the pair had sat on pillows on the ground and stood up to walk around during the meeting. U.S. intelligence assesses that despite his injuries Khamenei is still playing a critical role in shaping war strategy alongside senior Iranian officials, multiple sources familiar with the intelligence said in May. A meeting in Manhattan The presence of Iran’s delegation in a country with which it remains at war is already virtually unprecedented. But this spectacle became increasingly unconventional on Thursday when the Iranian president and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi briefed reporters including from CNN in a hotel function room in Midtown Manhattan. A U.S. State Department official said earlier this week that the visiting Iranian delegates were “being admitted to the United States strictly for the purpose of representing the Islamic Republic of Iran before the United Nations” and that they must “restrict their activities to United Nations-related business only.” The Iranians “must seek and receive approval in advance” from the U.S. State Department if they want to travel outside the vicinity of the UN headquarters, John F. Kennedy International Airport or Iran’s UN mission facilities, the official said. In the briefing, Pezeshkian denied accusations that Iran was trying to kill the president, saying it has “never been the position (of the Iranian government), overtly or covertly, to seek to assassinate Trump or his family members.” Last month, the U.S. Secret Service said it was aware of a video aired by Iran’s state broadcaster appearing to threaten the life of Barron Trump, the president’s youngest son. This came after Israel shared intelligence with the U.S. that Iran had devised a plan to assassinate Donald Trump. In late 2024, the U.S. Justice Department announced federal charges over what it described as a thwarted Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election. Hard-line Iranian media have repeatedly featured content threatening the life of Trump and his family. During funeral events for the late Khamenei in July, regime loyalists were seen holding posters with the words “Kill Trump.” Trump has publicly discussed the Iranian threats on his life too, saying in July: “I’m on whatever list … so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long. These are evil, sick people.” In response to Pezeshkian’s comments, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, “The Iranian regime has murdered thousands of its own people, killed Americans overseas, executed acts of terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz, and launched indiscriminate attacks against its neighbors in the region.” “The president is courageously ensuring that such an evil country never possesses a nuclear weapon, which will make the entire world safer and more stable,” Kelly said. ‘We have problems’ Pezeshkian also discussed the domestic challenges facing Iran. U.S. sanctions and the ongoing war have suffocated the country’s economy, sparking prices increases and shortages of basic necessities. The Iranian president also said in the session that Iran wants a deal, but that any agreement was not related to the timing of the U.S. midterms. Separately, also on Thursday, Araghchi said Iran had presented a proposal to the U.S. that — according to Iran — would re-open the Strait of Hormuz and restart negotiations toward a “final deal.” The proposal, presented to the U.S. through mediators this week, calls for the U.S. to meet certain conditions within seven days to restart the talks and re-open the strait, Araghchi said. The foreign minister declined to elaborate on the conditions but said that they were “nothing more” than what was included in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. That agreement, which was reached by the two countries in June, included provisions on sanctions relief; the release of frozen assets; and a cessation of military operations, including in Lebanon. In response to Araghchi’s comments, a White House official told CNN they were having “positive and constructive discussions through the mediators.” Iran’s economy was in a dire state even before the war began, with the poor conditions a key driving factor behind the anti-regime demonstrations which kicked off in the Iranian capital city Tehran in 2025. “We have problems. Unprecedentedly difficult problems,” Pezeshkian told reporters Thursday, while referring to U.S. sanctions as a “silent murderous campaign.” Much like in his Wednesday address to world leaders, Pezeshkian appeared confident in the briefing that Iran would prevail despite the challenges facing his country. He also insisted that U.S. bases in the region were legitimate targets as they had been used to attack Iran. “Most of the American bases in the region are no longer useable,” he claimed. Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at U.S. bases across the Middle East region during the war’s first months, according to an official Pentagon watchdog report released earlier this month. “Of course, the U.S. has the power to destroy anything anywhere, but it is impossible to bring about Iranian surrender,” Pezeshkian said.
