Iran's president at the UN: IRNA leads with 'Iran has not started the war', Gulf News with 'US must choose' whether to end it

What was said. On 25 September, during the UN General Assembly week, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke about the war between Iran and the United States. We hold two reports of it. They were published five minutes apart.

Two ways to lead.

Whose voice. Both reports quote Pezeshkian and nobody else. Neither quotes a US response. Both attribute the claims to him and do not state them as fact.

One phrase with no actor named. IRNA writes that Iran "has faced an imposed war". It does not say who imposed it.

What is not settled. - Who started the war is disputed. We hold no US or Israeli account of the speech, so neither side's reply is here. - Only Gulf News carries the "must choose" line, and we hold only its headline. IRNA's opening sentence does not include it. - Neither report says when the war began or what, if anything, Iran is offering.

What this is about. Iran's president used the UN's annual gathering of world leaders to put Iran's case in a war with the United States.

How it got here. Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 revolution. The core dispute of the past two decades is Iran's nuclear programme. In 2015 Iran signed a deal with world powers, the JCPOA. It limited enrichment in return for sanctions relief. In 2018 the first Trump administration withdrew from it and reimposed US sanctions. Iran then expanded its enrichment. After the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the war in Gaza that followed, Israel and Iran struck each other directly. In June 2025 Israel launched strikes on Iran, and the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. In September 2025 the UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 deal were reimposed after France, Germany and the UK triggered the deal's "snapback" mechanism. The reports we hold do not say when the current war began or how. Each side blames the other.

The actors. Masoud Pezeshkian has been Iran's president since July 2024. Ultimate authority in Iran rests with the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. IRNA is Iran's state news agency. Gulf News is published in the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf state that sits across the water from Iran. The United States is Israel's main ally and has forces across the Gulf.

What is at stake. The Gulf carries a large share of the world's oil and gas exports. A wider war puts that shipping at risk, along with the Gulf states near the fighting. An end to the war would reopen questions about Iran's nuclear programme and the sanctions on it.

Where it stands. In the two reports we hold, Iran says it will defend itself and puts the choice of ending the war on Washington. We hold no US reply.