LONDON, United Kingdom - Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed his country's openness to what he called "lawful" American investment, despite decades-long hostilities between the two states.

"We have explicitly declared time and again, and this has also been emphasized by the supreme leader frequently, that we have no issues with lawful investment, even from American investors," he declared in a televised speech on Wednesday.  

Pezeshkian was addressing a Tehran ceremony marking Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology. Designated on Iran's national calendar, the day typically serves as an occasion for the Iranian government to unveil the latest achievements and showcase its know-how in nuclear technology. Tehran says those advancements are meant for purely civilian purposes, rejecting Western worries about its alleged plans to build atomic weapons. 

"We are not after nuclear bombs," Pezeshkian stated, once again citing a fatwa (religious edict) by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Iranian president voiced Tehran's willingness for its nuclear program to undergo verification procedures by the UN nuclear watchdog "even a thousand times" to prove its assertions about a peaceful nature.

After weeks of US-Iran escalating rhetoric over Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian and American negotiators are expected to hold talks—mediated by the Omani government in Muscat—on Saturday.

Referencing the upcoming meeting, Pezeshkian noted in his speech that the Islamic Republic "will not trade away" its nuclear achievements.

"Iran is not seeking a military conflict," he asserted, with a renewed warning that "we will stand up against any acts of aggression, relying on the knowledge and power acquired by our nuclear scientists."