US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was deciding whether to make a deal with Iran or "annihilate" the country in a bombastic 37-minute speech to the United Nationsthat appeared tailored to war-weary American voters. The 80-year-old president's threat came after repeated claims that under him the United States is successfully confronting its adversaries and reshaping the world order to its own advantage. Read moreUN Live: 'Nobody with a conscience can close their eyes to what is happening in Gaza', Erdogan says Since returning to office last year for a second term, Trump has sent shockwaves through the global order, joining Israel to attack Iran, ordering an armed raid on Venezuela that seized the country's president and threatening to annex Greenland by military force.
"While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace. While others have ignored threats, I have confronted them," Trump told the room full of world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York. Despite claiming credit as a peacemaker, Trump delivered a jarring warning as he sought to justify the nearly seven-month war against Iran, which he claimed was launched to stop Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons.
"I have a big decision to make – will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country?" Trump said. "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?" Trump spoke less than a week after a UN fact-finding mission said it had reasonable grounds to believe US forces committed war crimes in two strikes on Iran, including one that killed scores of children in a primary school in the southern city of Minab.
Trump reiterated that he believed Iran would "make a deal right after" the US midterm elections in November – in which his Republican party faces losing control of Congress, at least partly due to high fuel prices caused by the unpopular war. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading.
To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: Trump believes in an agreement after US midterms © France 24 Much of the rest of his speech was dedicated to proclaiming his own achievements in making the United States the "most powerful country in the world". Trump threatened to use the "unmatched military might" of the US to secure Washington's interests in Latin America, and said the Communist-run island of Cuba would soon "fall".
Cuba has suffered repeated nationwide blackouts after the US imposed a devastating fuel blockade on the Caribbean nation in January, leaving millions of people without power. Members of the Cuban delegation walked out of the hall as Trump referenced his pressure campaign against the country. He also hailed a deal with Greenland under which he said Washington would build two bases in the Arctic territory.
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