Iran's president accuses Israel of seeking wider Mideast war, laying traps

Iran's new president accused Israel on Monday of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and laying traps to lead his country into a broader conflict.

Masoud Pezeshkian told about two dozen media representatives that Iran doesn't want to see the current war in Gaza and airstrikes across the Israeli-Lebanon border expanded.

We don't want to fight, he said. It's Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region. They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go.

Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and reformer, defeated a hardliner in Iran's July presidential runoff, after the death of the former president in a helicopter crash. He is making his debut on the international stage at this week's annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, just as Israel steps up attacks on Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The Iranian leader, who will turn 70 on Sunday, said that while Israel insists it doesn't want a wider war, i ts actions show ...