Iran's relatively newly elected president Masoud Pezeshkian chose to address two issues with international implications when he held his first international press conference on Monday.
The president, who is considered more moderate than his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi, said he was open to discussions about Iran's nuclear energy program. He claimed that Iran was forced to leave the international agreement on the country's nuclear energy program since the then US President Donald Trump rejected the agreement.
I believe we have said many times that we do not want this at all. We want to meet our technical and scientific needs, we do not want nuclear weapons, said Pezeshkian in Tehran.
We adhered to the framework that existed (in the agreement). We stand firm on adhering to this framework. They tore it up (the agreement), so we were forced to do something.
Pezeshkian also said that he wants to use his power to ensure that Iran's morality police do not "bother" women. The statement came on the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death after being detained by Iran's morality police.
Pezeshkian was elected president after former President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.
The real power in Iran lies with the country's highest political and spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
