President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that he faces a choice between striking a peace deal with Iran or quickly annihilating the Islamic Republic, while warning other nations to join U.S. economic isolation efforts as the war nears its seventh month.
The Ultimatum at the United Nations General Assembly
Standing before global leaders in New York City, the American president framed his military campaign against Tehran as a necessary preemptive strike that successfully barred the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“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? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”
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President Donald Trump
The administration’s stance has shifted repeatedly since the conflict began nearly seven months ago, with the president backing off large-scale threats on at least eight prior occasions in pursuit of an agreement. Outside the UN headquarters, dozens of anti-Iranian government demonstrators gathered, a few of them holding up signs calling for freedom and democracy and decrying dictatorship. 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.
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.
Sanctions, Economic Pressure, and Regional Realities
The speech follows the announcement of enhanced sanctions on Iran and 60 entities in various countries doing business with the country, in what officials have called an “economic D-Day” and the administration has dubbed Operation Economic Outcast. In response to the announcement of the new sanctions, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the latest US sanctions as a threat to international law and the United Nations charter.
From Instagram — related to trump tells faces choice, Trump UN Iran
United States President Donald Trump told Al Jazeera he has no time schedule for when he expects Iran to return to the negotiating table to end the conflict the US began months ago. I have no time schedule, none. I’m not in a hurry. I have no time schedule at all, Trump told Al Jazeera’s Tanya Noury on Wednesday, after he was asked how much time he was giving Iran to return to talks. We are winning very big, Trump said. They’ve got massive inflation, their economy is falling apart, they’re treating their people very badly, they are killing many, many protesters. I have no time schedule; whatever it takes. Asked whether economic measures were more effective than military strikes, Trump told Al Jazeera, I think they are both effective.
This Friday marks six months since the US war on Iran began. The comments depart from previous statements by the US president. After launching the war on February 28, Trump went on to repeatedly downplay how long the conflict would last, saying at one point it would be over in “four to six” weeks. In June, the US and Iran signed a 60-day memorandum of understanding that was supposed to deal with issues like transit through the Strait of Hormuz, lifting sanctions on Iran and starting talks on how to deal with Tehran’s nuclear programme. That agreement expired earlier this month.
Domestic Political Pressures and Midterm Elections
The president has claimed that he is not on any timeline and told reporters that the upcoming midterm elections do not impact his strategy. On Tuesday, Trump said in his speech that he doesn’t believe there will be an agreement before the midterm elections. I believe we'll make a deal right after the election, because it doesn't make sense for them not to. They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election, Trump said. But later, Trump claimed that he will “get it donefast when it comes to Iran. In addition, the United States and Iran will definitely get it done. We will get it done, one way or the other. It’s going to be done. It’s got to be done fast,” Trump added.
Trump in U.N. speech says he could ‘annihilate’ Iran but expects a peace deal after midterms
The president also pushed back on assertions that the U.S. is low on munitions despite a Pentagon report acknowledging the war with Iran created a shortage.
Diplomatic Maneuvers and International Meetings
He later told reporters at the United Nations that US officials had held a “very goodthree-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.”
