Iran’s new president, Massoud Pezheskian, said today he wants to hold talks with Western countries over the war in Ukraine, which he described as “Russian aggression”, while denying that his country supplies Russia with weapons.

“We would like to start dialogue and negotiations with the Europeans and the Americans. We have never supported Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory,” Pezheskian told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“We are ready to sit at the table with the Europeans and the Americans for dialogue and negotiations. We never authorized the attack on Ukrainian soil,” he said during a roundtable discussion with journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The Iranian president has once again denied that the country supplied him with missiles.

Massoud Pezheskian assured that Iran believes in resolving the conflict in Ukraine “through dialogue, not through deaths.”

“The borders of every country must be respected,” he said.

Western governments accuse Iran of supplying drones and missiles to Russia for its war against Ukraine, a charge Tehran has always denied.

Tensions have risen recently after France, the UK, Germany and the US announced new sanctions against Iran in retaliation for Fath 360 ballistic missile deliveries.

Ukraine has threatened to cut ties with Tehran over the missiles, which Western diplomats say could allow Russia to launch further strikes on Ukraine.

There is ample evidence that the Russian military is using Iranian-supplied Shahed drones for its strikes in Ukraine. At the beginning of the war experts talked about their use in the war, while later they said that Russia organized its own production of drones.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, both Tehran and Moscow have repeatedly denied that the Russian military is receiving weapons from Iran.