ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran says his country is "by no means" seeking a military conflict with the United States but is fully prepared to defend its sovereignty without hesitation.

In a phone conversation on Thursday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Iranian president reiterated Tehran's official line that its nuclear program remains peaceful.

"The pursuit of atomic weapons has no place in Iran's nuclear doctrine," he declared.

The United States, European powers, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, have repeatedly raised concerns that Tehran is accelerating on its path toward developing nuclear weapons.

To ensure that Iran will never get its hands on nuclear arms, the administration of US President Donald Trump has been relentlessly pushing Tehran to come to the negotiating table, threatening "bombing the likes of which they have never seen before" should they fail to do so.

"To ease certain tensions, Iran is ready for interaction and dialogue based on equal footing and mutual respect," Pezeshkian told MBS. He noted, in the meantime, that Iran's military preparedness is currently "at its highest," with the country capable of mounting a firm defense.

Diplomatic outreach ramped up

Following Trump's recent direct threats, Pezeshkian has been holding similar calls with regional Arab leaders from Iraq, Kuwait, and Bahrain to the UAE, Jordan, and Tunisia.

The diplomatic blitz appears to be Tehran's attempt to secure assurances that those nations will not allow their airspace or military bases to be used in potential US or Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

In his conversation with MBS, Pezeshkian expressed certainty that Muslim nations—if relying on their commonalities and boosting their unity—will be capable of securing peace and stability in the region.

The official readout of the call—as published by the Iranian president's website—cited MBS as saying that "Iran-Saudi cooperation could help effectively strengthen regional peace," as he voiced Riyadh's readiness "to play a role in the de-escalation of regional tensions."

The two regional rivals, Iran and Saudi Arabia, signed a China-brokered normalization deal in May 2023. The agreement ended a seven-year hiatus in their diplomatic ties that were cut off after a group of Iranian hardliners stormed and ransacked Saudi missions in Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad over Riyadh's execution of a pro-Iran Shiite cleric in 2016.

Despite initial promises sought in the rapprochement deal, little tangible progress has been reported in economic and political partnership between the Sunni kingdom and the Shiite theocracy.