Iran’s president has apologized to “all those affected” by the nationwide protest and bloody crackdown that followed it. President Masoud Pezeshkian also denounced on Wednesday unspecified “Western propaganda” surrounding the protests. Pezeshkian said he knew the “great sorrow” felt by people in the protests and crackdown, without directly acknowledging the hand Iranian security forces had in the bloodshed. Pezeshkian also insisted that his nation was “not seeking nuclear weapons. ... and are ready for any kind of verification.” His comments came during a speech at a commemoration marking Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
