(Bloomberg) -- Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that Israeli attacks on Lebanon “cannot go unanswered,” raising the risk of further escalation with Israel and its allies, while also urging western nations to come back to a nuclear accord and lift sanctions.
The clashing messages underscored how Iran’s new leader, making his global debut three months after winning election, is trying to balance two different mandates: ease his country’s economic isolation while also responding to Israel’s escalating war with Hezbollah.
“We are ready to engage with nuclear deal parties if the nuclear deal’s commitments are implemented fully and in good faith,” Pezeshkian said, referring to a 2015 agreement placing limits on Iran’s nuclear program. Former President Donald Trump quit the pact in 2018 and reimposed a crippling sanctions regime.
He called on the US and allies to remove sanctions on Iran in order “lay the foundations for further agreement.”
Pezeshkian spoke amid the deadliest violence in Lebanon since 2006 as Israel seeks to decimate Hezbollah there — and has so far resisted calls from foes and allies alike to stop.
The substance of Pezeshkian’s address to the UN General Assembly didn’t differ much from that of his predecessors, but his tone was far more understated.
The likelihood of fresh nuclear talks appeared dim, especially given Iran’s backing of Hezbollah militias in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
He condemned Israel’s military actions in Lebanon and called its bombardment of Gaza “desperate barbarism.” He also made clear Iran wouldn’t ease its support in the face of stepped up Israeli attacks.
More than 500 people, including 50 children, have been killed by Israel’s bombardment of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon so far. The escalation by the key US ally increases the likelihood of all-out war with the Islamist group, the most powerful of Iran’s allied militant forces across the Middle East.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to arrive in New York later in the week and address the General Assembly on Friday. Earlier Tuesday, he said the strikes would continue and a top Israeli general said the country is destroying military infrastructure Hezbollah has built over 20 years.
That conflict hung heavy over the first day of the General Assembly debate in New York, with several leaders who took to the podium criticizing Israel’s attacks. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for “coercive measures” against Israel while others repeated demands for a cease-fire.
In a speech earlier in the day, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a thinly veiled accusation at Israel, as well as others such as Russia, saying the “level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable.”
Others, such as President Joe Biden, were more mild. The US leader, making his final speech to the assembly as president, urged de-escalation, saying full-scale war “is not in anyone’s interest.”
“A diplomatic move is always better than a confrontation,” Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said on X. Even so, he said. “we are determined to restore security to our citizens in any possible way.”
The danger of escalation was set to be a major theme on Wednesday as well. The UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the situation in Lebanon in a bid to push for both sides to back down.
The violence flared last week with a series of explosions that targeted pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. Israel didn’t take credit for the campaign but officials including Pezeshkian condemned the strike, which killed more than 25 people and wounded hundreds.
Worse for Iran, the country’s ambassador to Lebanon was among the wounded.
Pezeshkian’s appeal to come back to talks faces a cold reception from the US, which says Iran’s funding of Hamas, Hezbollah and other proxies make talks of rapprochement impossible. He’ll also have to attend to the priorities of hard line institutions back home.
Those include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, both of which will be weighing how to respond to Israel’s worsening attacks on a critical ally.
“Some of Iran’s competing objectives are in clear conflict now,” said Ali Vaez, Director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group. “It’s hard to get economic reprieve from the west when Iran is on the opposite side of two conflicts the west cares about: Ukraine and Gaza-Lebanon.”
Vaez was referring to another alliance that has angered the US and its allies — strengthening military ties between Iran and Russia. US and UK officials have accused Iran of supplying ballistic missiles to Russia, an accusation Pezeshkian denied in a meeting with reporters in New York on Monday. He said he doesn’t approve of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
According to Tehran-based economist Saeed Laylaz, Iran hasn’t responded to Israel with force in part because of its desire for sanctions relief. That’s a critical step toward attracting desperately needed foreign investment, and time may be running out with Trump seeking to return to the White House.
“I don’t believe that Iran will make a big move that will bring it directly into this conflict,” Laylaz said. That “will work in favor of Netanyahu and Trump and that’s what the Islamic Republic will avoid.”
(Updates with quotes from Pezeshkian’s speech to UN General Assembly.)
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