Witkoff-Iran talks at UNGA as Trump threatens ‘annihilation’
President Donald Trump scolded a CNN anchor for covering his UN General Assembly address in New York on Tuesday, telling the anchor: “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me.” The confrontation followed the president’s announcement last week that he was banning CNN, Politico and MS Now from the White House, The Guardian reported.
Trump used the assembly rostrum earlier the same day to threaten to “annihilate the Islamic republic” of Iran “and do it quickly,” The Guardian reported. He called on countries to unite to isolate Tehran and bring down global energy prices.
On the sidelines of the assembly, US special envoy Steve Witkoff held three hours of talks with Iranian officials — the first such contact since Vice President JD Vance met an Iranian delegation in Switzerland in June, The Guardian reported. Witkoff said he “felt very good about the meeting.” A senior Iranian official also indicated that Iran was prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week.
In other portions of the address, Trump doubled down on his defence of AI development, saying warnings about runaway agents were a “hoax.” He announced that the United States would build new military bases in Greenland. Trump also attacked the International Criminal Court, calling it a “rogue organisation.”
Cuba’s delegation walked out of the assembly hall after Trump described the country as a “failed state.”