The United States delegation walked out of the United Nations General Assembly chamber as Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, accused Washington of treating his country as a terrorist state while ignoring its own record. In his address, Pezeshkian said the US president had described Iranians as terrorists, adding: «We have been the victims of terrorism.» The walkout underscored the depth of the rupture between the two governments, which have traded threats and accusations in recent days.
Pezeshkian used his speech to press the case that Iran has no respect for international law from Washington, following what he characterised as an «annihilation» threat issued by President Donald Trump. The Iranian leader presented images of girls at a school in Minab, dozens of whom were killed in a strike on the first day of the war, according to accounts of his remarks. He argued that Iran «cannot be made to surrender», framing the confrontation as a test of whether smaller states can rely on international legal protections.
The timing of the address placed it at the centre of a crowded diplomatic day in New York. The latest attacks came just hours before Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to address the assembly, meaning the Ukrainian president is likely to reflect on them during his own speech later. So far there has been no public comment from Zelenskyy or Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, on the Iranian intervention or the wider escalation.
The walkout by US diplomats was the most visible signal yet that the two sides are not seeking a de-escalation at the UN this week. Washington has not issued a detailed public response to Pezeshkian's specific allegations, and the Iranian delegation has continued to present its case as one of victimhood rather than aggression. The exchange has turned the General Assembly into a stage for direct confrontation rather than the diplomatic ritual it is often assumed to be.
For Zelenskyy, the sequence of events creates an awkward backdrop. He arrives at the UN after a meeting with Trump that had been described in hopeful terms, only to see a major attack launched on Kyiv within hours. That attack, ordered by Vladimir Putin, took lives and signalled that Moscow intends to keep pressing its military campaign regardless of the diplomatic calendar. The Ukrainian leader must now make his case to an assembly already consumed by the Iran-US dispute.
The broader context is a UN system under strain. Iran and the US are trading accusations of terrorism and lawlessness while a European war continues to produce civilian casualties. Delegations from Europe, China and Russia are watching how the assembly manages the competing crises, with the Iranian president's speech and the American walkout setting a tone of open hostility rather than negotiation.
Pezeshkian's decision to show images from Minab was a deliberate attempt to humanise Iran's losses and to counter the portrayal of his country as a sponsor of terrorism. It also served to remind assembled governments that the war has produced victims on the Iranian side, a point he returned to repeatedly. The US delegation's departure meant those images were received by a chamber missing its most powerful critic.
No new talks between Washington and Tehran have been announced, and neither side has indicated a willingness to step back from the current trajectory. The assembly continues, with Zelenskyy's address now the next focal point. For now, the most concrete outcome of the day is a diplomatic rupture played out in full view of the world's governments.