Pezeshkian accuses U.S. of breaking deal in SCO summit
President Masoud Pezeshkian said the United States began making excessive demands and violating its obligations under the Islamabad Memorandum less than two weeks after Donald Trump signed the deal. Speaking at the 26th Summit of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Pezeshkian said the recent US-Israeli attacks on Iran were an assault on the UN Charter and international law.
He said the US and Israel launched what he called an illegal war of aggression against Iran by assassinating Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and senior military commanders. He added that Washington and Tel Aviv later accepted a ceasefire after Iran’s resistance, retaliatory operations, and its control over the Strait of Hormuz.
He also said the region faces linked threats such as terrorism, violent extremism, drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, and cybercrime. He pointed to intensifying geopolitical rivalry, unilateralism, force, unlawful sanctions, and the use of economic and technological tools as pressure tactics against developing and emerging economies.
On the sidelines of this summit, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met Russian President Vladimir Putin and thanked for Moscow's position on the Iran war and resulting sanctions, and said together, Moscow and Tehran can resist what he called the U.S.' "unilateralism."
"Our belief and conviction is that we will be able to stand against the unilateralism that America is imposing in the world and the unjust sanctions that it is imposing, with strength," Pezeshkian said.
Putin told Pezeshkian that Moscow stood in solidarity with the Iranian people in the fight for their interests. "Russia stands in solidarity with the Iranian people. We admire your courage and resilience in fighting for your national interests", Putin said.
