New York — Before the United Nations General Assembly, a stonefaced Iranian representative among them, President Donald Trump had a question about the enemy in the war he had struggled for months to end.
“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?” 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?”
It was an ultimatum to Iran on the world’s stage: Make a deal or be destroyed.
It wasn’t a new message. Trump delivered a similar one to his audience — and the world — months earlier on Truth Social, writing, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
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It didn’t happen, but the post immediately sparked questions of war crimes and whether the leader of the free world was preparing to commit one. But Tuesday’s comments, delivered from a teleprompter, carried new weight.
In a 38-minute address that saw Trump largely stick to the script and avoid weaving off-the-cuff additions, the president’s main target was the same as it has been since the United States initiated a war with Iran in February. Trump defended the actions he’s taken in the Middle East and other aggressive actions taken across the globe. And alongside the blunt words about the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, Trump informed his allies that America had done what they would not. And instead of admonishing those allies for what Trump said was a lack of action, the president instead asked for their help.
“I call on all nations to join us in enforcing the complete economic isolation of Iran until they stop their attacks on commercial shipping, relinquish their nuclear ambitions and cease their support of terror,” Trump said. “If we stand united, we will soon see a world free of the last 51-year menace of Iranian terror.”
His address — and his arrival at the summit — began with domestic issues. Trump’s escalated fight with the press showed up before his remarks, when he told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins: “You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me.”
He spoke of low crime rates and the drop in crossings at the southern border, economic investments and tourism, before pivoting to the international problems at hand.
Even the political fallout from the Iran war, a seemingly intractable issue that’s weighed heavily on Trump’s approval rating, was a brief subject in the president’s remarks. Trump predicted Iran would strike a deal after the midterm elections “because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” adding that he doesn’t worry about the war’s impact on the midterms.
“It doesn’t even enter my mind,” Trump said. “The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”
Still, a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Sunday found that 34% of respondents approved of the actions against Iran. Republican support for the war also declined, from 73% in March to 60% in the most recent CNN survey.
Between the new threats to end Iran and criticisms of the UN’s Human Rights Council — “What they do is unbelievable” — Trump returned to another usual target: the U.S.’s own backyard.
Trump hailed the Venezuelan operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and the subsequent oil deal that concerned Republican lawmakers. He also dedicated a small but significant portion of his remarks to Cuba and affirmed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in deep negotiations with the island.
“We’ll not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep, right at our doorstep,” he added.
When Trump mentioned his administration’s efforts to curb Cuban influence, the representatives of Cuba exited the General Assembly Hall. But their disapproval did not stop Trump’s scripted remarks.
“While others have talked of strength,” Trump said, “I have used it to make America the most powerful in the world.”
But as the address winded down, so did Trump’s dedication to the teleprompter. He debuted his new name for artificial intelligence — “super intelligence” — and wondered whether his influence would be enough to see the change stick. Trump said that all federal documents referencing AI will use the new name.
“We will only encourage super intelligence. We’re going to encourage it, not rein it in,” the president said, while acknowledging there will be some Department of Justice oversight of the technology.
The president delivered his hotly anticipated speech during the morning session of the General Assembly’s first official day. Seated in the hall were Rubio, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, chief of staff Susie Wiles and first lady Melania Trump.
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