President Donald Trump used his U.N. General Assembly address to warn Iran of further military action while predicting an eventual agreement, calling for tighter economic isolation of Tehran and defending U.S. operations from Venezuela to the Strait of Hormuz.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
President Donald Trump delivered a sweeping defense of American military and economic power before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, threatening substantially greater action against Iran if diplomacy fails while predicting that Tehran ultimately will reach an agreement with Washington after the November midterm elections.
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The president devoted a significant portion of his 37-minute address to the nearly seven-month conflict with Iran, portraying Tehran as facing a choice between negotiations that would allow it to rebuild or another round of potentially devastating U.S. attacks.
“Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?” Trump asked.
“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?”
Despite the warning, Trump said he expects the confrontation to end through an agreement rather than another major escalation.
“But I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election, because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Trump said. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election.
“What they don’t realize is that I’m not running.”
Trump said Iranian leaders may believe the results of the Nov. 3 congressional elections could change Washington’s position, but he argued his approach would remain focused on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon regardless of the domestic political outcome. Reuters reported that Trump simultaneously called for Iran’s economic isolation while predicting a post-election agreement.
“From the first day I entered the political arena, I’ve been unwavering. I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Trump portrayed the current confrontation as the result of Tehran rejecting repeated diplomatic opportunities while continuing to develop missiles, drones and other military capabilities capable of threatening U.S. forces and regional countries.
He pointed to Operation Midnight Hammer, the 2025 U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, saying it had “obliterated their nuclear program beneath mountains of rubble.”
He also defended Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israeli military campaign launched against Iran in February, and described Iranian military losses in sweeping terms.
“As a result of Operation Epic Fury, all 159 ships of their Navy are now lying at the bottom of the sea,” Trump said.
“Likewise, their air force is gone. Their radar is gone, their anti-aircraft equipment is gone. Their missiles and drone manufacturing capacity is almost gone.”
Those figures represented Trump’s characterization of the military campaign. The White House has previously said Operation Epic Fury was intended to destroy Iran’s missile-production capacity, cripple its naval forces and prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, while public U.S. military reporting during the operation documented substantial but evolving Iranian naval losses.
Trump also accused Iran of violating a ceasefire and attacking civilian commercial shipping, tying the military confrontation to continued disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz.
“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,” he said.
The United States has already imposed an extensive economic blockade on Iran, while American forces have been escorting commercial vessels through the strategically critical waterway.
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Saturday that American forces had supported the transit of more than 1 billion barrels of crude oil and more than 2,000 commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in recent months.
Trump cited those operations Tuesday as evidence that U.S. military power was keeping international energy supplies moving despite the conflict.
The president also pushed back against concerns that months of operations in the Middle East have strained American ammunition inventories.
“We have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using, and we’re building them at levels that we have never done before,” Trump said.
Trump said 18 new munitions plants were being constructed.
His claim came amid conflicting assessments over U.S. stockpiles. CBS News reported that the Pentagon inspector general recently identified “strategic inventory shortfalls” resulting from the Iran conflict, even as Trump rejected suggestions that American forces faced meaningful shortages.
The president placed the Iran confrontation within a broader argument that his administration’s willingness to combine military force, tariffs, trade pressure and personal diplomacy had resolved conflicts that conventional diplomacy had failed to settle.
Trump said he had helped settle eight wars, a claim his administration has repeatedly promoted as part of what it describes as a “peace through strength” foreign policy.
He also pointed to the Gaza agreement.
“We also brought home all remaining hostages, both living and dead. Every single one of them,” Trump said.
The United Nations’ Board of Peace reported earlier this year that all hostages had been returned under the Gaza framework, while humanitarian assistance had expanded and a ceasefire had largely held. The board said 28 countries had joined the organization by that stage.
Trump thanked the U.N. Security Council for endorsing his 20-point Gaza peace plan and said nearly 30 countries had become part of the Board of Peace, which he chairs.
The president presented Gaza as an example of cooperation between Washington, regional governments and international institutions that he said produced results after years of conflict.
Ukraine remains one of the major wars Trump has not resolved.
He nevertheless expressed confidence that negotiations involving Moscow and Kyiv would eventually produce an agreement.
“We’re working very closely with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, and we will get that one done,” Trump said.
Reuters reported that Trump added that he believed progress could come “more quickly than people understand,” though he announced no ceasefire or settlement Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among the world leaders Trump was scheduled to meet after the speech as the administration continued discussing air defenses, sanctions and possible measures to reduce attacks on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping.
Trump also devoted part of the address to Venezuela, where a U.S. military operation earlier this year captured Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face federal charges.
Washington subsequently entered into a major energy agreement with Venezuela’s interim government involving development rights and U.S. majority control associated with an estimated 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.
“To the victor belong the spoils,” Trump said.
He framed the Venezuela operation not only as a change in U.S. policy toward Caracas but as a demonstration of how Washington intends to approach security threats throughout the Western Hemisphere.
“And if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States,” Trump said.
“Our actions in Venezuela are proof that the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere,” Trump said elsewhere in the address. Reuters reported that he used the operation to argue that American military dominance was necessary to deter threats throughout the region.
His remarks also came as the administration expanded pressure on drug cartels, Cuba and other governments and organizations in the Americas.
Trump described Mexico as an “epicenter of cartel violence” and called on its government to strengthen control over territory affected by criminal organizations. He also said his administration was pursuing a fundamental change in Cuba, prompting members of the Cuban delegation to leave the General Assembly hall during his remarks.
The speech repeatedly returned to Trump’s broader argument that American strength — rather than restraint or reliance primarily on international institutions — had produced diplomatic leverage.
“While others have talked, I have acted,” Trump said, according to CBS News. “While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace. While others have ignored threats, I have confronted them. While others have talked of courage, America has shown it. While others have promised strength, I have used it to make America the most powerful country in the world.”
Trump also criticized international institutions that he believes constrain American sovereignty, including the International Criminal Court.
He said the United States would not accept ICC jurisdiction over American military personnel and encouraged countries belonging to the court to reconsider their participation.
“We will never allow US service members or anyone else to be investigated or given show trials by an anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us,” Trump said.
The president nevertheless stopped short of rejecting the United Nations itself.
He argued that the organization could serve a useful function if it moved away from policies he considers ideological and focused more heavily on conflict resolution and international security.
Iran remained the dominant immediate question.
Trump’s address came the same day a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States eased military pressure and lifted its blockade of Iranian ports. Iran also indicated that its delegation in New York had authority to pursue diplomatic contacts through intermediaries.
Trump’s public remarks offered no acceptance of those specific conditions.
Instead, he called for increased international economic pressure and warned that the alternative to a settlement could be another major military campaign.
Hours later, however, Trump said the United States and Iran were continuing to communicate and that he believed a settlement ultimately would be reached.
That left the administration advancing pressure and diplomacy simultaneously: urging other governments to isolate Tehran while publicly forecasting an eventual agreement.
Trump’s message to the General Assembly was that the decision now rests with Iran.
His administration, he said, remains committed to preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and is prepared to use economic and military power to enforce that objective, while leaving open a diplomatic route that could allow Iran to rebuild under a negotiated settlement.
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