Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in New Delhi that Tehran will not surrender to the U.S. and will continue to resist what he described as pressure from the U.S. and Israel. He made the remarks while addressing a gathering of Indian religious leaders during his first visit to India ahead of the BRICS summit.
Pezeshkian said that “Iran has successfully stood against Israel and the U.S.” and would not yield to what he called bullying arrogance because it is seeking truth and justice. His comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump said that, without Washington’s military action against Iran, Tehran would have wiped out Israel and the Middle East and then started striking U.S. cities. Trump said on Thursday that, if faced with the same situation again, he would act the same way.
Pezeshkian also held a bilateral meeting on Friday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the Indian side, Modi raised concerns about the safety of seafarers and stressed the importance of peace, freedom of navigation and commerce. He reiterated that the conflict in the Middle East should be resolved through “dialogue and diplomacy.”
The regional escalation is already affecting global energy markets. Since Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel began their war on Iran, shipments of oil and other cargo through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman have slowed sharply, leaving many ships and crews stranded for weeks and in some cases months.
Against that backdrop, global crude oil prices have surged. Higher energy prices are especially troubling for major importers such as India. The country, regarded as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, imports nearly 85% of its fuel needs and depends heavily on supply chains that run through the Strait of Hormuz.
The conflict has also hit Indian crews directly. In July, two vessels carrying a total of 30 Indian seafarers were attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Indian government, 10 seafarers have lost their lives because of the conflict in the Middle East.
On Friday, Modi and Pezeshkian were photographed warmly as they left the BRICS Business Forum. Iran’s embassy in India wrote on X that “when the leaders of two great nations join hands, they remind us of the historic friendship between two great civilizations.”
