UNITED NATIONS--US President Donald Trump used his UN General Assembly speech on Tuesday to make the case for his war on Iran, arguing he has prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and warning that he could "annihilate the Islamic Republic" if no deal is reached to end the conflict.
While predicting his administration would strike a peace deal with Iran following the November 3 US midterm elections, Trump called on other nations to join America in isolating Iran economically to force it to the negotiating table.
"I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?" Trump said. "Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?"
He later told reporters at the United Nations that US officials had held a "very good" three-hour meeting with the Iranian delegation on Tuesday. He subsequently appeared to clarify that special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had met with mediators rather than Iranian officials directly.
"Steve and Jared had a very productive meeting today with mediators of Iran, merely mediators," he told reporters at the start of a meeting with Gulf leaders at the UN. "Let's see what happens with that."
Since returning to office last year for a second term, Trump has sent waves through the global order, joining Israel to attack Iran, ordering a raid on Venezuela that captured the country's leader, and threatening to seize Greenland.
In a 37-minute speech ahead of a whirlwind diplomatic schedule that included meetings with the leaders of Britain, Ukraine and Japan, Trump laid out his foreign policy vision, arguing that the Iran war had spared the world the threat of a nuclear-armed menace while asserting US dominance in the Western Hemisphere is essential to preventing crises from taking root.
"Our actions in Venezuela are proof that the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere," Trump said. "While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace."
Outside the UN headquarters, dozens of anti-Iranian-government demonstrators gathered, a few of them holding up signs calling for democracy and decrying dictatorship. Trump brushed aside suggestions that the midterm elections, in which his Republican Party risks losing control of Congress, could constrain his handling of the war. Some analysts have argued that a Democratic takeover of the legislature would weaken his leverage in the conflict.
"What they don't realize is that I'm not running," Trump said, referring to the leadership in Tehran. “I did that already, and won in a landslide. We won in a giant landslide, and I'll be here for 2-1/2 years.”
