President Donald Trump urged world leaders to join the United States in economically isolating Iran. He used his address to the UN General Assembly to press for unified action against Tehran while promising that oil prices would fall if nations stood together.
Donald Trump wants his allies to isolate Iran
Speaking before the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump demanded that nations enforce what he called the complete economic isolation of Tehran. He insisted that collective action would end decades of what he described as Iranian-sponsored terror and deliver relief to consumers squeezed by soaring energy costs. “I call on all nations to help to enforce the complete economic isolation of Iran,” he said.
The appeal puts more pressure on US allies already frustrated by rising fuel prices and growing instability. Iran has choked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since early in the war, while Russia’s war in Ukraine has compounded the strain on global oil markets.
Moreover, Donald Trump paired his economic demand with a military threat, repeating his warning that he could destroy Iran outright. He said he must choose between permitting Tehran to rebuild or wiping out the Islamic Republic quickly. “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill or destroy people and continents?” he asked.
He rejected any suggestion that electoral politics would shape his thinking on the Iran war. Midterm elections, he said, would not influence his decision-making, adding that the only consideration that matters is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Furthermore, Trump announced two new US military bases in Greenland under an agreement with Denmark, and pledged not to restrain AI development. He dismissed safety warnings about the technology as a “hoax.”
Donald Trump closed his remarks by thanking the UN Security Council for condemning Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a brief conciliatory note in an otherwise defiant address.
