Trump Threatens Annihilation at the UN, Defends the Iran War on a Stage Built for Diplomacy

The hall

The General Assembly hall was standing room only, and the air carried the usual mix of translation earpieces, camera clicks and the low hum of diplomats scanning agendas. Before President Trump took the podium, outgoing Secretary-General António Guterres delivered his final address to the assembly after a decade in office. He warned that the fault lines in the world are widening, that cracks have become canyons, and that building a networked future begins with the recognition, especially by superpowers, that their power isn’t so super. Governments with the greatest AI capabilities have the greatest responsibilities to humanity to establish channels for dialogue, transparency, trust and cooperation, not despite geopolitical rivalry, but precisely because of it.

Trump began with domestic talking points. He touted accomplishments on the economy, immigration, the border and tackling violent crime in remarks that sounded pitched to voters in November’s U.S. midterm elections more than to the diplomats in Manhattan. He spent much of his address justifying the war with Iran, which has spiked global oil prices while dragging down his approval ratings since the U.S. and Israel launched military action in February. Members of the Cuban and Iranian delegations walked out at points during the speech.

The case for war

The president framed the campaign as a reset of Middle East order. “They were the bully of the Middle East, but they’re the bully no more,” he said. He argued the conflict had prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and demonstrated the value of what he described as peace through strength — ultimatums rather than deal-making or compromise.

He rejected the founding premise of the institution he was addressing. His speech amounted to a rejection of the founding concept of the United Nations, and he accused the UN of a far-left agenda of globalist bureaucrats who nobody ever elected. He rejected “global government,” vowed to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, and said the United States would not surrender its lead in artificial intelligence to China.

On AI, he brushed off concerns that rapid advances could endanger humanity, saying the U.S. totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control artificial intelligence. He dismissed warnings from the same people who said we will all be dead in 12 years because of global warming as now saying AI is going to kill us all. He argued artificial intelligence should be known as “super intelligence.” The use of the word artificial makes it sound fake, he said. It’s not fake, it’s actually amazing. But we have to be careful.

Annihilation or a deal

The central passage of the address was a stark binary offered to Iran. “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? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations? But I believe we will make a deal right after the election, because it doesn’t make sense for them not to.”

He described the choice as coercive diplomacy — threatening overwhelming force while keeping negotiations open. The threat was not abstract. Trump said a deal could come after the midterm elections and that the alternative was to annihilate the Islamic Republic.

On the same day, diplomacy moved on the sidelines. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran did not trust another negotiation, even though Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met today with U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “We have been at the negotiating table several times. The whole world sees that they are easily trample on, the agreements. They cannot use force to compel people to submit.”

Trump later told reporters that American officials had had a very productive three-hour meeting with the Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the general assembly. Iran state TV confirmed the meeting, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff posted that the mediators successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising. The mediators will continue their work.

The war has spread. The president met with Middle Eastern allies as the conflict with Iran has spread, including a strike by the Iranian-backed Houthis on a public market in Yemen. The Houthis are trying to expand their assault after seizing the Red Sea coast along the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Regional officials are concerned the Houthi campaign gives Iran even more leverage, combining choke holds over both the Bab al-Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis have also damaged a critical Saudi pipeline that the kingdom signaled today it’s close to restarting.

A deal in Greenland, a threat in Tehran

While the rhetoric in the General Assembly hall leaned toward confrontation, a different kind of negotiation unfolded in the same city. Trump signed an agreement with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland to beef up U.S. military presence on the North Atlantic island. The deal amends and updates a 1951 defence agreement between Denmark and the U.S. It says the U.S. shall be allowed to establish an additional Defence Area at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig — locations in Greenland’s south and east. Narsarsuaq is a former civilian airport and World War Two base with deep-water access and a large runway. The Mestersvig outpost is remote and far less developed.

The pact reaffirms the sovereignty of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, but grants the U.S. broad access to the island’s airspace and territory. No territory is ceded to the U.S., and it recognises both Denmark’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and Greenland’s right to self-determination. The agreement also confirms Greenland would remain in Nato if it were to gain independence from Denmark. It bars states that are not members of Nato from establishing military installations in Greenland or maintaining a persistent presence of military forces there.

At the signing, Trump said we will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations. “We going to have a tremendous relationship, a secure relationship,” he said. “This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States, for everybody, and for Greenland it’s going to be incredible.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the day we are signing an even bigger and better agreement, a deal that can last forever. This deal is good for the United States. It’s good for Greenland, for Denmark, for the NATO alliance, and therefore also good for Europe. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said this is not only an agreement about us, it is an agreement with us. It takes into account the people of Greenland, our rights, our livelihoods, and the development of our country.

The mood at the signing contrasted with the tone of the UN address. It was a turnaround from previous threats disrespecting Danish sovereignty that threatened overall NATO cohesion. The new deal must still be approved by both Denmark’s and Greenland’s parliaments.

The closing

The day was a study in juxtaposition. In the morning, Guterres spoke of interdependence and the need for superpowers to recognize limits. In the afternoon, Trump offered a winner-takes-all vision: a peace defined by strength, an AI race won by refusal to regulate, and a war with Iran justified as settling years of unfinished business. He promised a deal after the election, and warned of annihilation if it does not come.

Outside the UN building, the city continued its usual churn of press conferences, side meetings and last-minute arrivals. Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham held his first face-to-face meeting with Trump. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York the next day. The assembly, the first for the Republican Party during the midterms, had become a stage where campaign-season politics and global diplomacy collided, and where the president chose to speak to Americans as much as to the world.