The US delegation to the UN General Assembly has walked out after Iran's president told the international body his nation was the 'victim of terrorism'.

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian spoke this afternoon at the gathering of world leaders in New York. 

Within minutes of beginning his speech, he accused the US and Israel of killing civilians, and claimed his nation has 'been the victims of terrorism'.

He added: 'I come from an Iran in which our esteemed supreme leader was assassinated without any legal framework or reason.' 

Referring to the US' attack on Iran's Minab primary school on the first day of the war, he said as he held up photos of the attack: 'I come from an Iran where, in truth, they bombed a school.'

Upon hearing this, the sole US delegate in the General Assembly Hall stood up, picked up his briefcase and walked out of the room as he removed his glasses.  

'We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,' Mr Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly. 'Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us.'

Pezeshkian added: 'They have tested the strength and the steadfastness of Iran, and they have learned that Iran cannot be made to surrender.'

Addressing US President Donald Trump at the end of his address, he said: '[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.'

Arriving in New York under heavy security and scrutiny, Mr Pezeshkian – who, within Iran's political landscape, is considered a moderate politician – addressed world leaders a day after Trump used the same stage to suggest he may 'annihilate' the Islamic Republic if a deal isn't reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Hours later, Mr Trump told reporters that his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met for about three hours with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering. But he offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the substance of the exchange.

'It was a very good meeting,' Mr Trump said. The president later added that the Iranian officials were 'not the highest level, but it's something'. Also on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Mr Trump is open to meeting with Mr Pezeshkian while he's in New York.

But Tehran downplayed Tuesday's unscheduled exchange, which was the first indirect talks between US and Iranian officials since a June ceasefire unraveled. Esmail Baghaei, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, maintained the country's negotiating position in talks with US officials, demanding that Washington end its blockade of Iranian ports and release frozen Iranian assets. 

Mr Baghaei said the talks – conducted indirectly through Qatari mediators – were 'not anything new'.

Mr Pezeshkian will have the chance to elaborate on where Tehran stands as more than a year of start-stop negotiations between the two longtime adversaries have failed to produce a sustainable solution. His speech comes as intermittent attacks continued in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran's coast, where commercial shipping remained below prewar levels.

His address last year came months after the 12-day Israel-Iran war that saw the assassination of many of the Islamic Republic's highest military and political leaders and once again broke down weeks of negotiations with the United States.

'Ladies and gentlemen, you all bore witness that this past June, my country was subjected to a savage aggression and flagrant contravention of the most elementary principles of international law,' Mr Pezeshkian said at the time.