Iran officials and its delegation left the United Nations General Assembly after US President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to “annihilate” Iran if Tehran does not reach a deal with Washington, while also declaring at the United Nations General Assembly that Cuba’s communist government was failing and “will fall.”
Trump delivered these remarks in a combative speech to the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, where he defended the United States’ faltering months-long military campaign against Iran and warned he could escalate the conflict rather than accept a settlement that would let Tehran recover.
“I have a big decision to make,” Trump told world leaders gathered at the UN headquarters.
“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?”
Trump stated that he believed a deal with Iran would eventually be reached but tied his expectation to the US midterm elections.
“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election,” he said.
Trump also tried to separate himself from the electoral fallout of the November midterms, stating that he was not personally on the ballot.
“I’m not running. I did that already and won in a landslide. The Republican Party is running, and I’ll be helping them, but I am not running,” he said.
As Trump spoke about the conflict, the Iranian delegation left the General Assembly Hall, with most of its members departing roughly 10 minutes into his speech.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had come to New York for the UN gathering, but they were not in the hall while Trump delivered his address.
Trump spent much of his roughly 40-minute address defending his administration’s foreign policy and military actions, casting the campaign against Iran as essential to keeping Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons and asserting that American military power had shifted the balance of power in the region.
He also shifted his focus to Cuba, saying his administration was pursuing “a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba.”
“It’s an absolutely failed state—it’s failing like never before, and it will fall,” Trump said.
Afterward, the Cuban delegation exited the General Assembly Hall.
According to Reuters, Trump stated that the Cuban government was facing the most intense pressure it had ever experienced and that his administration anticipated the collapse of its political system.
Trump’s comments stood in stark contrast to the focus on diplomacy expressed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who spoke to the assembly just before him.
Lula remarked that the wars and mounting tensions facing the international community could not be settled by military force alone.
“We all know there will be no winners on the battlefield,” Lula said in Portuguese. “Diplomacy is the only option.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres likewise called on world leaders to reinforce international cooperation instead of withdrawing into confrontation.
“Military power alone cannot secure peace,” Guterres said in his opening address to the gathering.
Trump’s speech went past Iran and Cuba to touch on other foreign-policy disputes, among them Venezuela, Gaza, Ukraine, and the International Criminal Court.
He took credit for bringing the war in Gaza to an end and portrayed the United States as a key player in settling international conflicts, even though talks on the next stage of the Gaza conflict were still unresolved.
In his own speech, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned Israel, saying it had a “genocidal mind-set.”
Israeli delegates then walked out of the General Assembly Hall while Erdogan was speaking.
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Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also spoke about the Gaza conflict, calling the situation there “a genocide in every sense of the word.”
Trump’s UN appearance took place amid the ongoing war with Iran and mounting international worry about the economic fallout of the conflict, such as disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz and higher energy prices.
Right after his speech, Trump signed an agreement with Denmark on a bigger US military presence in Greenland, while Danish control of the territory stays in place.
Trump said the deal would grant the United States “permanent control over security and all other needs on that territory.”
“We will have the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent and also Europe and other places,” he said.
The US President has often voiced interest in acquiring Greenland, but when asked whether the agreement meant Washington had given up that aim, he did not rule it out.
The UN General Assembly, the organization’s main deliberative and representative body, gathers leaders and delegations from its member states every year to discuss international conflicts, development, security, and other global issues.
