Trump uses UN speech to press Iran, predicts deal after midterms

President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that he must decide whether to make a deal with Iran or destroy its government. He predicted a deal would come shortly after the U.S. midterm elections.

Iran took up much of the 37-minute speech, delivered to a gathering of nearly 130 world leaders as the war enters its eighth month. "I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," Trump said, according to UN News. He said Tehran had rejected offers of economic cooperation before U.S. strikes hit its nuclear program.

He laid out two paths. One is a deal that lets Iran rebuild. The other is to wipe out the Islamic Republic. Reuters reported that Trump expects a settlement after the Nov. 3 midterms, which will decide control of Congress. He urged governments to keep Iran in complete economic isolation until it stops attacking commercial ships and backing terrorism.

The war began in late February and has strained relations with European allies who refused to join, the Deseret News reported. High gas prices and growing disapproval of the war have Republicans nervous about November.

Trump said he had ended eight conflicts since returning to the White House, among them Gaza, the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the clash between India and Pakistan. Talks on Russia's war in Ukraine continue, he said.

The International Criminal Court drew his sharpest attack. "You're an evil group of people," Trump said, Foreign Policy reported. He called on member states to leave the court and also went after the UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO and the International Maritime Organization.

Trump said U.S. pressure had cut the UN budget by 15% this year and eliminated more than 4,000 positions. Earlier this month Washington paid $725 million to cover its 2025 dues, Reuters reported.

Then he turned to artificial intelligence. Trump proposed renaming it "super intelligence," saying the word artificial makes the technology sound fake. He said the U.S. "totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme" to control it, France 24 reported, and dismissed warnings from AI safety advocates.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had called for global AI oversight in his farewell speech about an hour earlier. Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped the assembly. He begins a state visit to Washington on Wednesday, and AI is on the agenda.