The US president said he has a \u201cbig decision to make\u201d if negotiations with Tehran fail<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump has threatened to \u201cannihilate\u201d Iran if negotiations fail, saying he faces a \u201cbig decision\u201d as he predicted no deal with Tehran would come until after the US midterm elections in November.
\nAddressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump defended the US-Israeli war with Iran and accused Tehran of deliberately delaying an agreement until after the US elections.
\n\u201cBut I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?\u201d Trump asked, before presenting the alternative: \u201cOr do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Trump considering \u2018blowing up\u2019 Iran \u2013 Fox News<\/p>\n
Trump nevertheless said he believed an agreement would be reached \u201cright after the election.\u201d Later in the speech, he said Washington and Tehran would \u201cdefinitely get it done\u2026 one way or the other.\u201d
\nTrump also called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the \u201ccomplete economic isolation\u201d of Iran until Tehran meets Washington\u2019s conditions.
\nMembers of the Iranian delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall, leaving only one lower-level delegate seated, as Trump defended the nearly seven-month conflict, accusing Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, supporting terrorism and attacking commercial shipping.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Iran offers to reopen Strait of Hormuz \u2013 media<\/p>\n
Hours later, however, Trump struck a more conciliatory tone, revealing that US representatives had held what he described as \u201cvery good\u201d talks involving Iran on the sidelines of the UN gathering on Tuesday. He said his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had held a \u201cvery productive meeting\u201d with \u201cmediators of Iran.\u201d Another meeting is expected \u201cin the very near future,\u201d according to Trump.
\nIranian state media reported that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had met Witkoff directly on the sidelines of the General Assembly at Washington\u2019s request. According to the report, Tehran used the meeting to present its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the US naval blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.
\nIran\u2019s military, meanwhile, responded defiantly to Trump\u2019s remarks, warning that further US or Israeli escalation would be met with stronger retaliatory strikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president said he has a \u201cbig decision to make\u201d if negotiations with Tehran fail President Donald Trump has threatened to \u201cannihilate\u201d Iran if negotiations fail, saying he faces…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t