President Donald Trump used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September to threaten Iran with destruction unless it strikes a deal with Washington, according to PBS News and NBC News. Speaking to the assembly’s 81st session before nearly 130 heads of state, Trump said Tehran’s recent conduct reflected weakness rather than strength.

The terrorist regime is behaving badly, not because they are strong and confident, but because they are weak and desperate.

The speech came as the US-Iran war entered its seventh month, having begun in June 2025 with American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, PBS News and NBC News reported. Trump told the assembly he had “no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day” and warned, “if we stand united, we will soon see a world free of the last 51 year menace of Iranian terror.”

Diplomacy behind the threats

Despite the public ultimatum, US officials including Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff met Iranian counterparts on the sidelines of the assembly, CBS News reported. Trump himself suggested a resolution was likely, but not before American voters go to the polls in November.

But 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 on the midterm election.

He added that Washington retained the option of force, telling delegates the US would, “if necessary, use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States,” according to Axios.

Greenland bases and an AI rebrand

A day before the speech, the US signed a trilateral security agreement with Denmark and Greenland expanding American military access on the island, the Spokesman-Review reported. Trump said the US would “immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate location,” including two new bases, a deal that follows months of tension after he declined to rule out taking Greenland by force.

Trump also announced that the US government would formally rename artificial intelligence “super intelligence” and rejected international efforts to regulate the technology, calling them, according to The New Republic, an attempt “to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now.” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the assembly the UK would instead help lead international efforts to build global AI standards, a direct contrast with the American position as Brussels continues to enforce its own AI Act.

Venezuela and Cuba

Trump also called Cuba an “absolutely failed state” during the address, and separately met Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez on the sidelines, more than eight months after a US military operation captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, CNN reported. Rodríguez struck a measured tone after the meeting.

We will continue to advance a diplomacy that serves the national interest, aimed at achieving concrete results and collective benefits for the Venezuelan people.

The gathering unfolded against a backdrop of rising global oil prices linked to the Iran war, Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and the aftermath of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. PBS News also noted objections from CNN, MSNBC (branded MS NOW) and Politico after the White House restricted their press pool access around the UN events.

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