In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks to navy officials, in Tehran, Iran, May 17, 2025.
(The Hill) — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday said his nation is at war with the United States and Israel, as well as Europe more broadly.
“We are in a full-scale war with the U.S., Israel and Europe; they don’t want our country to remain stable,” Pezeshkian said in an interview published on the website of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to The Associated Press.
Khamenei and Pezeshkian have reiterated an ironclad stance against the West after a U.S.- and Israel-led attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
President Trump has pledged to stop Iran’s efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, despite the country’s claims that it is just experimenting with nuclear enrichment. He is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
”Here, they are besieging us from every aspect, they are putting us in difficulty and constraint, creating problems — in terms of livelihood, culturally, politically, and security-wise — while raising society’s expectations,” Pezeshkian said in the interview.
“On one side, they block our sales, our exchanges, our trade, and on the other side, expectations in society have risen. Consequently, we must all help with all our might to fix the country,” he added.
Approximately 1,100 Iranians, including senior military commanders and nuclear scientists, were killed by U.S. and Israeli strikes in June amid a 12-day air war, according to the AP.
