In a speech to world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump defended the Iran conflict and said he was considering whether to “annihilate” the country and drive it “into hell.”
Or, he said, Iran could make a deal with the U.S. that would allow the nation to rebuild. But that won’t happen until after the midterm elections in November, Trump predicted.
“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Trump said. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election.”
Trump later said U.S. envoys met with Iranian officials for three hours on the sidelines of the gathering, an unexpected development that offered a glimpse of diplomatic activity.
But Trump has repeatedly floated new attacks on Iran, even previously threatening death to the entire civilization. On Tuesday, he revived that warning at one of the most prominent platforms for world leaders, with an Iranian delegation in the audience.
“I have a big decision to make,” he said. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”
“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” he continued.
Most important, Trump said to applause, is ensuring that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”
Iran’s nuclear potential was “the reality we had to confront,” he argued, and “a reality that far too many preferred to ignore.” Tehran has insisted its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and denied having plans to develop nuclear weapons.
The U.N. assembly comes as the Iran war is about to enter its eighth month.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the U.N. on Wednesday. Trump told Fox News that he would “probably” be open to meeting with Pezeshkian but did not announce any specifics.
Trump also highlighted peace deals he has worked on, U.S. actions in the Western Hemisphere and progress on his 20-point peace plan in the Gaza Strip.
Trump’s remarks to the assembly this year come as the U.N.’s Human Rights Council found in a report last week “reasonable grounds to believe” that the U.S. had committed war crimes during “indiscriminate attacks” against an Iranian school and a residential area in February.
The American president traditionally addresses the General Assembly each year.
During his wide-ranging speech, the president said America is “doing better than ever before,” touting the U.S. economy and his approach to immigration and artificial intelligence.
America is ‘leading’
Less than a minute into his remarks, Trump called the U.S. economy “the envy of the world” and pointed to his administration’s tax policy and stock market records.
“Our economy is the envy of the world,” he said. “Our military is the most powerful on Earth. Our technology is second to none, and we are leading in virtually everything.”
Many American voters, though, don’t appear to agree. An NBC News poll conducted in September found that 56% of registered voters disapprove of the job the president is doing, and 55% said they believe his policies hurt the economy.
Gas prices remain high, sitting at an average of $4.47 per gallon, about a 50% increase since the war with Iran began. Diesel prices also spiked, affected by the Iran war as well as the war between Russia and Ukraine. Diesel hit a record $6 per gallon earlier this month before surging higher to $6.52 as of Tuesday, according to AAA.
Later, the president touted his record on immigration, tying his crackdown on the southern border to a drop in violent crime in the U.S.
“The entire world is being lifted by the wealth, strength, spirit and momentum of a newly energized and a very powerful United States of America,” he said.
Plans to ‘encourage’ AI
While Trump declined to endorse guardrails on artificial intelligence, he did push for one change: its name.
Trump said the U.S. would refer in official documents to “superintelligence,” rather than “artificial intelligence.” The word “artificial,” Trump argued, “makes it sound fake, and it is not fake. It’s actually amazing.”
Earlier this month, industry insiders warned that artificial intelligence could lead to human extinction, potentially in the next decade.
Trump said Tuesday that he would not “stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution.”
“We’re going to encourage it, not rein it in,” he said. “We’re going to watch it closely through the Department of Justice.”
Trump has previously said that the only guardrail the U.S. needs is “a STRONG AND SMART” president.
Artificial intelligence is also expected to be a main topic of conversation during Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.
Greenland, Ukraine and Venezuela
Trump met with several world leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. gathering, including Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez. It was Rodríguez’s first meeting with Trump since the U.S. captured then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who are in a Brooklyn, New York, jail, awaiting trial.
Weeks ago, Trump said that the U.S. entered an agreement with Venezuela for U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves in Venezuela.
On Tuesday, Trump called it “perhaps the biggest deal ever made,” adding: “To the victor belong the spoils.”
Trump said the Venezuela raid was “proof that the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere,” noting U.S. attacks on drug cartels before pivoting to Cuba.
“My administration is seeking a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba,” he said, adding, “It will fall.”
In response, the Cuban delegation stood up and left the assembly hall.
Later Tuesday, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said: “I hope that we will end this war, and President Trump will help us help us end this war,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump said during his speech that the war in Ukraine would end “more quickly than people understand.”
For years, the president said he would end the war. During his 2024 presidential campaign, he said he could end the war within 24 hours or even before his presidency began.
Last week, Trump signed into law a Russian sanctions bill championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
He also announced that the U.S. would take over military operations and have “permanent control over security” in Greenland, in a deal signed later Tuesday with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark to try to end the tense standoff over the strategic Arctic territory.
