US President Donald Trump delivered a fiery speech at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, threatening to "annihilate" the Islamic Republic if a nuclear deal with Iran is not reached. Trump said he faces a "big decision": either make a deal with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country, or "annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again." Only one member of Iran's delegation watched the speech in the standing-room-only hall.
In his address, Trump touted his accomplishments on the economy, immigration, border security, and tackling violent crime, sounding more like a pitch to voters ahead of November's US midterm elections than to diplomats. He spent much of his speech justifying the war with Iran, which has spiked global oil prices and dragged down his approval ratings. Trump argued the conflict prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and demonstrated the value of "peace through strength."
The president also vowed to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, saying it would happen "more quickly than people understand." He promised the US would not surrender its lead to China in the artificial intelligence race, suggesting AI should be called "super intelligence." Trump criticized the UN for a "far-left agenda of globalist bureaucrats who nobody ever elected" and declared that "there is no global government."
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his farewell speech, warned that global divisions are widening and urged unnamed superpowers to recognize "that their power isn't so super." Trump, in turn, emphasized America's "unmatched" military power and warned that the US would not allow threats to establish themselves anywhere in the Western hemisphere.
On the sidelines of the assembly, Trump signed an agreement with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland to beef up US military presence on the North Atlantic island. The deal reaffirms Greenland's sovereignty but grants the US broad access to its airspace and territory. He also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk