Iran's Leader Vows No Surrender as US-Iran Tensions Mount
Speaking at an event in the Iranian capital, Pezeshkian drew a sharp line between seeking peace and accepting subjugation.
"We must move beyond the state of neither war nor peace," he said, as quoted by an Iranian state news agency.
While ruling out war as contrary to national interest, the Iranian president made clear that provocation would be met with resistance. "War is certainly not in the country's interest, but if they seek to violate our dignity, our land and our territory, we will not surrender," he added.
Pezeshkian acknowledged the weight of governing a nation through compounding crises, noting that managing the country during war and periods of instability "was difficult." He called for broad societal unity to navigate what he described as existential challenges confronting Iran.
"We must move forward with dignity in a way that saves the future of our country from crises and storms," he said.
Rejecting what he framed as coercive Western pressure, Pezeshkian stated that Iran "will not be forced into submission through military pressure or threats", before issuing a pointed warning to adversaries: "The enemy will only see our surrender in its dreams."
The president also condemned recent strikes by the United States and Israel, characterising the killing of Iranian military commanders as "unacceptable." He further accused hostile foreign powers of working to fracture Iranian society from within and turn Arab and Muslim-majority nations against Tehran.
"One of the enemy's policies was to mobilize Arab and Muslim countries against Iran," Pezeshkian said, asserting that active regional diplomacy was successfully countering those efforts.
On the economic front, the president painted a stark picture of a country buckling under the weight of international sanctions and severed trade corridors. "We are under sanctions, our routes have been blocked, and we face a difficult test ahead," he said. "Running the country under these conditions is not easy, especially with existing imbalances and economic difficulties."
Military Exchanges Overshadow Diplomacy
Pezeshkian's address came hours after a significant escalation between Iranian and American forces underscored just how fragile the region's diplomatic architecture has become.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed Wednesday that American fighter jets carried out strikes on Iranian air defense systems and radar installations near the Strait of Hormuz, describing the operation as a direct response to the downing of a US Army Apache helicopter.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hit back swiftly, announcing retaliatory strikes against 21 American military targets spread across US air and naval bases throughout the region.
The flare-up is the latest chapter in a cycle of escalation that ignited in late February, when coordinated Israeli and US strikes on Iranian soil triggered a widening spiral of military confrontations, retaliatory operations and diplomatic ruptures. In the days immediately preceding Wednesday's incidents, both Israel and Iran had exchanged military strikes before pulling back under pressure from renewed diplomatic overtures between Tehran and Washington.
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