Pezeshkian to UN General Assembly: Iran will never 'bend the knee' to 'US terror'

Israeli settlers have set fire to Palestinian land on the outskirts of Burqa, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Burqa has faced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers in recent years amid the expansion of illegal settlements in the area. Incidents have included the burning of crops and farmland, the uprooting of trees and attacks on Palestinian residents and their property.

Two Israeli air strikes have hit areas near the town of Qantara and Wadi al-Salouqi in southern Lebanon, according to our team on the ground..

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged continued EU support for Syria after meeting President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“The EU remains a reliable partner for a peaceful, stable and inclusive transition in Syria, free from harmful foreign interference,” said von der Leyen.

She said the bloc was working to support Syria's reconstruction and the safe and voluntary return of refugees.

“As next steps, we aim to mobilise more investment and upgrade our partnership,” she added.

Earlier, al-Sharaa told the General Assembly that Syria has “moved from crisis to opportunity”, citing progress in rebuilding state institutions, pursuing transitional justice and developing international partnerships.

A good meeting with President @AH_AlSharaa in the margins of #UNGA.

The EU remains a reliable partner for a peaceful, stable and inclusive transition in Syria, free from harmful foreign interference.

We are actively working for Syria’s reconstruction, recovery and the safe… pic.twitter.com/oCvuOXdlEP

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 23, 2026

A Palestinian woman has died from wounds sustained after being shot by Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the Golan Heights would remain under Israeli sovereignty "forever", after Syria's president insisted at the United Nations that it was Syrian land.

"My clear response to the Syrian president, who made bombastic declarations from the UN podium: The Golan under Israeli sovereignty is an inseparable part of the State of Israel forever," Katz said in a video statement.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six Day War of 1967 and annexed the territory in 1981. The United States had been the only country to recognise the annexation until Colombia recognised Israel's claim last month.

Palestinian villagers wailed over the mangled remains of their olive trees on Wednesday after Israel's military uprooted them with bulldozers, days ahead of the annual olive harvest, normally a source of joy for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Abd Alfattah Tamimi, who owns an olive grove on village land near Ramallah city, watched as a military bulldozer smashed the top of one of his trees and then tore its roots from the ground.

"All our olive trees, including the newly planted ones, were uprooted. Also our neighbours', they uprooted them all," Tamimi said, adding that he and his neighbours own nearly 9 acres of land filled with olive trees.

"They left us with nothing," he said.

Libyan Presidential Council head Mohamed al-Menfi also addressed the ongoing conflict in Sudan, describing the country as Libya's “brotherly neighbour” and saying its people had become the “victims of a devastating war for which they are paying a hefty price”.

“In that war, interests and interventions collide, and its effects extend beyond the borders of Sudan, endangering the security and stability of the region and the unity of its states,” he said.

Iran's president struck a defiant tone at the UN on Wednesday where he spoke for the first time since Washington and Israel launched an all-out war on his country, vowing Tehran would never "bend at the knee."

Masoud Pezeshkian accused Washington of "terrorism" for assassinating former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the conflict, insisting Tehran had never started a war.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump had told the UN General Assembly that he was weighing whether to "annihilate" Iran but went on to hail renewed talks between Tehran and Washington's negotiators.

Pezeshkian made no reference to the talks to resolve the stalled war in his steely speech.

"(Trump) must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee," he said.

Pezeshkian insisted Tehran would not allow the Strait of Hormuz, which it has choked off since the start of the war causing global energy prices to spike, to be used as leverage against his country.

"We cannot let some have free access and bolster their interests from the waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us," he said.

Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon has reiterated Israel's claim to the occupied Golan Heights following Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's address to the UN General Assembly.

“But no speech will change reality, al-Jolani: the Golan Heights will always be part of Israel,” Danon wrote on X, referring to al-Sharaa by the nom de guerre he used as a militia leader.

During his address, al-Sharaa repeatedly cited UN Security Council Resolution 497, adopted in 1981, which declared Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights “null and void and without international legal effect”.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war and formally annexed the territory in 1981, a move that is not internationally recognised. The first Trump administration recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territory in 2019.