Iran’s new president vows balance with all countries but warns US his country won’t be pressured

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s newly elected president said his government will create “balance in relations with all countries” in line with national interests and the prerequisites for peace but stressed to the United States that his country “will not respond to pressure.” Masoud Pezeshkian penned “My Message To The New World” in the country’s state-owned Tehran Times late Friday, praising the latest presidential election that “demonstrated remarkable stability” and vowing to uphold “promises I made during my campaign.” ’ Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker, bested hard-liner former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili to clinch July 5’s runoff election to replace President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May. Pezeshkian said he looks forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with European countries “based on principles of mutual respect” despite a relationship that has known “its ups and downs.” In May 2018, the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — a nuclear agreement that also included Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. He then addressed the U.S., underscoring his country’s refusal to “respond to pressure,” adding that Iran “entered the JCPOA in 2015 in good faith and fully met our obligations.” Pezeshkian said the U.S. backing out has inflicted “hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to our economy” and caused “untold suffering, death and destruction on the Iranian people — particularly during the Covid pandemic” due to sanctions. Pezeshkian said Western countries “not only missed a historic opportunity to reduce and manage tensions in the region and the world, but also seriously undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty.” He emphasized that “Iran’s defense doctrine does not include nuclear weapons.” Iran has held indirect talks with President Joe Biden’s administration, though there’s been no clear movement toward constraining Tehran’s nuclear program for the lifting of economic sanctions.