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Trump says he thinks US will make deal with Iran after election
Donald Trump said he believes the US will “make a deal” with Iran as he addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
In his speech, Trump said: “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 in the midterm election. What they don’t realise is that I’m not running. I did that already and won in a landslide.
“We won in a giant landslide, and I’ll be here for two-and-a-half years. The Republican party is running and I’ll be helping them.”
Trump also claimed that “more oil is flowing than at any point since the start of the war” through the strait of Hormuz as the US navy “has recently escorted more than one billion barrels of oil” out of the waterway that had been choked by Iran after the conflict began.
Key events
Here’s my colleague Andrew Roth’s report on Donald Trump calling on nations to unite to isolate Tehran and bring down global energy prices, as he gave a bellicose defence of his administration’s foreign policy and decision to strike Iran in his UN speech earlier.
World inaction on Israel is a 'choice' and its actions in West Bank are a 'war crime', says Jordan's King Abdullah
Addressing the assembly earlier, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said the occupation of Palestinian territories is one of the world’s longest-running occupations, and it raises a basic question: “What exactly is [international] law worth, and how can we enforce it if we won’t even call out its violations?”
“For decades, I stood before this assembly and warned of the dangers of leaving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict unresolved,” he said, in comments quoted by Al Jazeera. “But the international community chose to manage the conflict, not confront it.”
“Every new Israeli violation was treated as temporary,” he said, “until temporary became permanent, and permanent became policy.”
He said that preventing the creation of a Palestinian state has become firm Israeli policy.
It is cemented on the ground. This government has been accelerating settlements and land seizures, but it began long before. Since [The Oslo Accords], the map has changed piece by piece, settlement by settlement.
Squeezing Palestinians into a third of Gaza can no longer “be dismissed as temporary military measures or a consequence of war”, he said.
Accountability begins when we call things for what they are: an attempt to erase Palestinian life and impose a new territorial reality in Gaza.
He said that was been unfolding in the occupied West Bank is not a series of isolated acts but rather “elements of a single policy to compel an entire population to leave their land. And there is a name for that: forced displacement. And that is a war crime.”
The world must abandon any illusion that Gaza and the West Bank are separate stories, he said. “They are not. They are two fronts of the same Israeli strategy. In both, Palestinians are being killed.”
King Abdullah went on to say that global political inaction on Israel is a wilful “choice”, and the result is a “state without restraint”.
This sense of impunity has reached terrifying levels. No one in this assembly should assume its ambitions stop at Palestine.
It is a “dangerous illusion” that the Arab world never sought peace, he added.
The Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 offered Israel normalisation with 57 Arab and Muslim states, including Iran and Iraq at the time, in exchange for peace and Palestinian statehood. For over 20 years, that offer has stood. The obstacle hasn’t been the absence of a partner for peace, but the absence of an Israeli government willing to accept it.
Gaza is 'world's largest graveyard for children,' says Erdoğan, as he calls on UN countries to exert 'greater pressure' on Israel
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the United Nations had become unable to fulfil its duty of preserving peace and called for reform of the security council.
Addressing the UN general assembly, Erdoğan condemned the situation in Gaza, saying “nobody with a conscience can close their eyes” to what was happening there.
“As a father and as a grandfather who cherishes his children and grandchildren”, he expressed his sadness over the ongoing suffering of Gaza’s children and for the people still searching for their loved ones in the rubble.
I have to say the following from this podium with a heavy heart: today, Gaza is not only the world’s largest graveyard for children, it is also the place with the highest rate of child amputations in the world.
Gaza, he said, has become “the most inhuman and shameful concentration camp of our time”.
Erdoğan said he was saddened by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ absence from the gathering (after the United States denied entry visas to Palestinian officials ahead of the annual gathering for the second year in a row).
This injustice against our Palestinian brothers and sisters deeply offends the conscience of humanity.
He called on member nations to exert “greater pressure on Israel” to end its war.
Any attempt to “strangle the state of Palestine will fail”, Erdoğan said, as he expressed hope that “an independent Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders with the territorial integrity and with East Jerusalem as its capital” will soon be established.
The Israeli delegation walked out during Erdoğan’s speech.
The day so far
Donald Trump said he believes the US will “make a deal” with Iran as he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. In his speech, Trump said: “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 in the midterm election. What they don’t realise is that I’m not running. I did that already and won in a landslide.”
Trump issued a threat to “annihilate” Iran and “drive them into Hell” if the regime didn’t capitulate and make a deal.” “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” Trump said, describing the choice he said was before him. “Or do I annihalate the Islamic Republic?”
Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said that Tehran would “undoubtedly intensify” its response if the United States launched new attacks on the Islamic republic. “If they act recklessly and history repeats itself, our resistance will undoubtedly intensify, bolstered by the experience we have gained. This time, we will not merely retaliate; we will adopt an offensive posture, and America will come to regret its actions, suffering greater humiliation than ever before,” said Mohebi in an interview with AFP.
Mohebi said that the United States had tried to establish contact with the Guards, but they had rebuffed the effort. “The Americans have tried to contact us but we refuse any such contact. Our dealings with the enemy – as long as they remain hostile – are conducted solely through arms,” said Mohebi, adding that diplomacy was handled by Iran’s foreign ministry.
Russian president Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman today, Reuters reported. They discussed the security situation in the Gulf and the need to keep vital waterways open, according to the Kremlin.
Gaza’s health ministry said in its latest update that at least 1,399 people have been killed by Israeli attacks since a supposed ‘ceasefire’ was signed between Israel and Hamas last October. Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by the US to end the war on Gaza, which includes the Israeli withdrawal from the strip and the disarmament of Hamas. Israel says Hamas has been violating the deal.
The UK has agreed to provide defensive air support to Saudi Arabia to help counter Houthi fighters and restore stability in the Middle East while driving down the cost of living at home, Andy Burnham has said, ahead of his first meeting with Donald Trump. The prime minister said he had agreed to a request for air-to-air refuelling of Saudi jets to defend energy infrastructure against the Iran-backed rebels and help keep oil flowing from the Gulf to ease global economic turmoil.
The renewed US-Iran efforts to resolve the dispute about control of the strait of Hormuz comes amid reports of Saudi Arabia attacking areas under Houthi control in Yemen. Among the latest reports is of an attack by Saudi Arabia on a prison in northwestern Yemen that killed nine detainees, according to a Houthi official, who spoke to the Saba news agency, which is affiliated with the Iran-backed militia.
According to a report in the New York Times, the US president, Donald Trump, has wavered for weeks over whether to act on appeals from Saudi Arabia for military help in fighting the Houthis. On Wednesday, the president had reportedly met with advisers and said he did not favour strikes.
Iran’s national airline said it had not received any ban on serving neighbouring countries, a day before US sanctions are due to be tightened against the Iranian aviation sector. “Iran Air has not received any notification or official instruction from the civil aviation authorities of Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, or Iraq regarding a halt or suspension of the airline’s flights to Istanbul, Baku and Najaf,” the company said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said that Tehran would “undoubtedly intensify” its response if the United States launched new attacks on the Islamic republic.
“If they act recklessly and history repeats itself, our resistance will undoubtedly intensify, bolstered by the experience we have gained.
This time, we will not merely retaliate; we will adopt an offensive posture, and America will come to regret its actions, suffering greater humiliation than ever before,” said Mohebi in an interview with AFP.
Mohebi said that the United States had tried to establish contact with the Guards, but they had rebuffed the effort.
“The Americans have tried to contact us but we refuse any such contact. Our dealings with the enemy – as long as they remain hostile – are conducted solely through arms,” said Mohebi, adding that diplomacy was handled by Iran’s foreign ministry.
Trump says he thinks US will make deal with Iran after election
Donald Trump said he believes the US will “make a deal” with Iran as he addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
In his speech, Trump said: “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 in the midterm election. What they don’t realise is that I’m not running. I did that already and won in a landslide.
“We won in a giant landslide, and I’ll be here for two-and-a-half years. The Republican party is running and I’ll be helping them.”
Trump also claimed that “more oil is flowing than at any point since the start of the war” through the strait of Hormuz as the US navy “has recently escorted more than one billion barrels of oil” out of the waterway that had been choked by Iran after the conflict began.
Trump renews threat to 'annihilate' Iran and 'drive them to hell'
Chris Hippensteel
Before his remarks threatening to annihilate Iran, Trump had touted his version of the war: one in which the US had defanged Iran militarily and driven the country to the brink of economic collapse.
He also took a moment to deflect the claim that the war had depleted the US strategic munitions reserves, a subject he took time out of his morning to post about to Truth Social.
After sharing his version of the Iran war, Trump issued a threat to “annihilate” Iran and “drive them into Hell” if the regime didn’t capitulate and make a deal.”
“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” Trump said, describing the choice he said was before him. “Or do I annihalate the Islamic Republic?”
Trump labels Iran 'number one sponsor of terror'
Trump said Iran is the world’s “number one sponsor of terror” and referred to the country as “the bully of the Middle East”.
He said:
There is no better example of a danger that was allowed to gather strength at the world’s peril than the number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
For 51 years, the fanatical Iranian regime has ruled by bloodshed and mass murder, spreading death and carnage and chaos across the entire Middle East and beyond.
They were the bully of the Middle East, but they are the bully no more. From the first day I entered the political arena, I’ve been unwavering. I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Chris Hippensteel
Donald Trump has taken the stage to address the world leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York, who together comprise the international order he has deeply rattled in his second term in office.
He framed the Iran war he launched earlier this year the same way he has to his domestic audience — as a necessary conflict to addressing a long-ignored threat.
“I do not believe in letting problems fester,” Trump said. “They only become harder to solve. So while others have talked, I have acted 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.”
You can follow his full speech here:
The world is held hostage by the paralysis of the United Nations’ top body, the Security Council, Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said at the UN today.
“We are all held hostage by the inaction of the Security Council for failing to fulfill its role,” he said, becoming the first world leader to address the UN General Assembly annual gathering.
António Guterres completes his term at the end of 2026, with no clear frontrunner in the race to replace him. He vows to “keep championing the conviction that peace is possible” once his term finishes.
The UN secretary general said the work of the UN matters more than ever as global conflicts rage around the world, including wars launched by two permanent members of the security council: Russia and the US.
The UN has been severely weakened during Trump’s second term in office as it faces a funding crisis, diplomatic attacks, including by the US, and has effectively been pushed out by Trump’s Board of Peace in relation to Gaza.
Speaking about the potential dangers of unregulated AI systems, António Guterres said “killer robots must have no place in our future”.
“Let us resolve that life and death decisions must never be surrendered to machines,” the UN chief told the gathered world leaders.
Guterres acknowledges that AI – which he calls a “gamechanger” – could bring a range of opportunities, including in the fields of medicine and science.
However, he said that the danger is “technology without accountability”, “capability without oversight” and “decision making without transparency”.
He said governments with the greatest AI capabilities i.e. China and the US have the greatest responsibility to humanity. He said these countries should, despite geopolitical tensions, establish effective communication channels and work on common safeguards to prevent the technology spilling out of control.
'The fault lines in our world are widening,' UN secretary general warns
In his address to the world leaders gathered at the UN general assembly in New York, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said the world must work together in “interdependence” to solve problems.
“The fault lines in our world are widening,” Guterres, who leaves office at the end of the year, said, citing geopolitical conflicts, the climate crisis and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
But instead of letting the future continue to veer toward fragmentation, transactionalism and mistrust, he called for “a world built on interdependence – and sustained by a dense web of economic, political, social and technological connections.”
You can watch the address here:
Russian president Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman today, Reuters reported.
They discussed the security situation in the Gulf and the need to keep vital waterways open, according to the Kremlin.
It said the two leaders held a detailed exchange of views on the situation in the Middle East and emphasised that a political and diplomatic settlement remains the only viable path forward.
They also “underscored the need for a swift cessation of hostilities” in Yemen amid the deteriorating military and political situation there.
“The importance of ensuring the safe and unimpeded passage of vessels through the region’s international waterways, including the Bab el-Mandeb and Strait of Hormuz, was emphasised,” the Kremlin said.
Iran’s national airline said it had not received any ban on serving neighbouring countries, a day before US sanctions are due to be tightened against the Iranian aviation sector.
“Iran Air has not received any notification or official instruction from the civil aviation authorities of Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, or Iraq regarding a halt or suspension of the airline’s flights to Istanbul, Baku and Najaf,” the company said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.
Earlier this month the US blacklisted the Iranian aviation sector and threatened sanctions against any organisation working with Iran’s airlines, AFP reported.
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 73,919, says health ministry
Gaza’s health ministry said in its latest update that at least 1,399 people have been killed by Israeli attacks since a supposed ‘ceasefire’ was signed between Israel and Hamas last October.
Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by the US to end the war on Gaza, which includes the Israeli withdrawal from the strip and the disarmament of Hamas. Israel says Hamas has been violating the deal.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Tuesday that 73,919 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since October 2023, when Isreal launched its assault on the territory following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, were killed.
A number of legal and rights experts have concluded that Israel has committed genocide – considered the most serious international crime – against the Palestinian population of Gaza. Israel denies the charge, despite the widespread evidence that supports the conclusion.
US open to meeting Iran at UN general assembly, Rubio says
The US secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has confirmed that the US is open to speaking with Iranians at the UN General Assembly, but said no meeting is currently scheduled (see this post for more details).
“We’re open to that. I don’t think anything is scheduled at this point, but we’re certainly open to something like that, especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about,” Rubio told NBC News.
“And that is the fact that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. They just simply can’t,” he added.
The renewed US-Iran efforts to resolve the dispute about control of the strait of Hormuz comes amid reports of Saudi Arabia attacking areas under Houthi control in Yemen.
Among the latest reports is of an attack by Saudi Arabia on a prison in northwestern Yemen that killed nine detainees, according to a Houthi official, who spoke to the Saba news agency, which is affiliated with the Iran-backed militia.
“Nine prisoners captured during recent events were killed last night when the Saudi enemy targeted a prison” in Al-Hazm, in Al-Jawf governorate, Houthi official Abdelkader al-Murtada said.
The Houthis, who have controlled Yemen’s capital since 2014, seized the country’s Red Sea coast this month in an advance that routed forces of the Saudi-backed government.
Saudi Arabia, an important US ally, has launched hundreds of strikes in recent days on the fighters’ positions in the highlands, according to the Houthis.
Patrick Wintour
Here is some more analysis from our diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour:
A fortnight ago Iran said it had reached agreement with Oman for a new agreed temporary route for commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz that would then be lodged with the Maritime Organisation. The bulk of the route goes through Iranian waterways in the north of the strait.
But the meeting planned for the Gulf States to endorse the route was cancelled by Saudi Arabia after what it regarded as Iranian-induced attacks on Saudi Arabia by Houthi forces in Yemen. Saudi Arabia also wanted to be a signatory and authoriser of the route, but Iran insisted the route had to be endorsed only by the two countries in which the strait’s waterways passed: Iran and Oman.
Iran had also said the waterway would not be opened even after the route was agreed until seven other conditions were met largely related to lifting the sanctions, asset freezes and broader US aggression towards Iran. Only after that could the issue of Iran’s nuclear program be considered.
The US has been countering this week by trying to impose an aerial blockade on Iran, threatening third countries not to allow Iranian civilian planes to fly in and out of Iran from their airports. The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said all Iranian planes will stop flying worldwide from Wednesday.
