Iran's president says he wants peace, not war

Iran's president said on Monday that his country does not want war with Israel.

Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking to a group of journalists after his arrival in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, said, "We want to live in peace, we don't want war. It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict."

"We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible," he added.

Pezeshkian, a relatively moderate politician who was elected in July promising a pragmatic foreign policy, accused the international community of silence in the face of what he called "Israel's genocide" in Gaza.

Pezeshkian's call to resolve the Middle East conflict through dialogue came after Israel unleashed an intense wave of air strikes against Hezbollah on Monday, making it the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly a year of conflict between Israel and the Tehran-backed group.

"We will defend any group that is defending its rights and itself," Pezeshkian said, when asked whether Iran will enter the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. He did not elaborate.

Iran's regional policy is set by the elite Revolutionary Guards, who answer only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's top authority.

Pezeshkian said, "We were told that within a week there will be a ceasefire agreement" between Israel and Hamas, "but that week has never come and instead Israel has kept expanding its attacks."

EU's Borrell describes situation as 'nearly full-fledged war'

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, also in New York, described the situation as nearly a full-fledged war. He urged world leaders to do all they could to stop it, adding, "Here in New York is the moment to do that."

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from towns and villages on both sides of the border by near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah. Israel has said it prefers a diplomatic solution that would have Hezbollah moved farther back from the border.

However, Hezbollah, which also says it wants to avoid all-out conflict, says that only an end to the war in Gaza will stop the fighting. Gaza ceasefire efforts are deadlocked after months of faltering talks mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.