Tehran seeks peace, but won’t bow to coercion: Pezeshkian

DUBAI, Nov 08 (Reuters/AFP): Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that Iran sought peace, but would not be coerced into abandoning its nuclear and missile programmes, state media reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran had been asking if U.S. sanctions against the country could be lifted.

"We are willing to hold talks under international frameworks, but not if they say you can't have a (nuclear) science, or the right to defend yourself (with missiles) or else we will bomb you," Pezeshkian said.

Iran has repeatedly dismissed the possibility of negotiations over its defensive capabilities, including its missile programme, and the idea of abandoning all enrichment of uranium on its soil.

"We want to live in this world in peace and security, but not be humiliated, and it is not acceptable that they impose upon us whatever they want and we just serve them," Pezeshkian said.

"They supply arms to Israel while they tell us not to have missiles for defence, then they bomb us whenever they want."

Tehran and Washington held five rounds of nuclear talks prior to a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June, when U.S. and Israeli forces bombed Iranian missile sites.

Israel sees Iran as an existential threat. But Iran says its ballistic missiles, with a range of up to 2,000 km (1,200 miles), are an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the United States, Israel and other potential regional adversaries. It denies seeking nuclear weapons.

Crowds packed central Tehran on Friday for the unveiling of a statue celebrating an ancient Persian victory over foreign enemies-a show of defiance toward Iran's modern-day foes in the wake of its recent 12-day war with Israel.

Thousands filled Enghelab Square to see the monument depicting the triumphant Sasanian king Shapur I looming on horseback over the kneeling Roman emperor Valerian, whom the Persian ruler captured in the third century AD.

Over Shapur's shoulder, multiple storeys high, stood a depiction of an ancient Persian warrior and a modern Iranian soldier, both grasping the same spear. Inscribed on their shields, the slogan: "You will kneel before Iran again."

"Such stories have repeatedly occurred through history, and the aggressors to Iran will suffer the same fate," Fatemeh Roshanbakhsh, 40, told AFP at the event.

The new statue was modelled on a stone engraving in southern Iran carved around the time of the original victory.

Student Moein, 21, said he had "studied about it in history books", adding that gatherings like Friday's "positively affect people's morale".

"Our nation has always been and will always be victorious," Moein added.

Alongside the sculpture of Shapur, organisers hung banners portraying slain Iranian military figures, including revered Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a 2020 US strike in Baghdad, and Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards' Aerospace force, who was killed in the Israeli attacks.

In June Israel launched an unprecedented military campaign against Iran, killing more than a thousand people, according to official figures.

Tehran reciprocated with missile and drone attacks on Israel, killing dozens.

"Iran throughout history had generals that defeated the system of blasphemy and arrogance," psychologist Roshanbakhsh, clad in a black chador, said in reference to Israel and its ally the United States, which also launched strikes on nuclear facilities in June.

Massive banners at the square showed mythical heroes from Persian literature-including Rostam, the legendary warrior from the epic "Shahnameh", Book of Kings-vanquishing foes.