Iranian leaders pursue talks during UN gathering as conflicts dominate geopolitical week

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used a visit to New York for the UN General Assembly to condemn U.S. and Israeli attacks while saying Tehran remained open to negotiations to end hostilities with the United States, according to a weekly report by OPFOR Journal.

The report said Pezeshkian addressed the General Assembly on September 23 and repeated his position in a Fox News interview the following day. He said Iran would not surrender to threats but could return to provisions of the Islamabad Memorandum. OPFOR Journal also reported that Pezeshkian raised the possibility of an agreement to dilute Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and permit inspections. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately held talks with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

In Iran, the Basij paramilitary organization opened a military training facility in Tehran for civilian volunteers, part of an effort to establish new “national resistance battalions,” the report said.

Elsewhere, OPFOR Journal reported that Russia attacked Ukrainian data centers and that the ruling United Russia party won State Duma elections amid widespread fraud. It also said Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first U.S. state visit since 2015, during which Washington and Beijing continued a trade truce and opened a dialogue on artificial intelligence. North Korea announced a missile test involving a weapon with features of a hypersonic glide vehicle.