LAST UPDATE | 22 Sep

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said he is deciding between making a deal with Iran or “driving them into hell with no chance of survival”.

He is currently making a speech to the United Nations overshadowed by growing spillover from his stalled war against Iran.

“I have a big decision to make,” said Trump.

“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?

“Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?

“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?

“But I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election, because it doesn’t make sense for them not to.”

NOW - Trump at the UN says he has a "big decision to make:" "Will a deal be made with Iran? ... Or, do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly? ... Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness for generations?" pic.twitter.com/jD7lJei0l6

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 22, 2026

Trump also claimed that Iran is “waiting to see how I do in the midterm election”.

“What they don’t realise is that I’m not running,” Trump added.

“I am not running. I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran. It doesn’t even enter my mind.

“The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Elsewhere, Trump said the US is the “hottest country anywhere in the world” and that the US is “leading in virtually everything”.

Meanwhile, the Cuba delegation left as Trump began criticising the country. 

Trump said Cuba is “an absolutely failed state”.

“It’s failing like never before, and it will fall,” he added.

Cuban delegation stands up and WALKS OUT after Trump rips them during his UN speech: "The communist regime is under great pressure. It's an absolutely failed state. And it will fall. We will not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep." pic.twitter.com/oxMs92NP9h

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 22, 2026

He claimed that the ”Cuban regime has spent decades coordinating with the left-wing radicals and communist networks here in the United States”. 

Elsewhere, Trump said he is “working very closely with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, and we will get that one done”.

“It’s going to happen,” said Trump, more quickly than people understand.

Trump meanwhile has regularly attacked the UN and its leader António Guterres since returning to office, although Washington last week reportedly paid $725 million (€630.98 million) into its budget, avoiding the embarrassment of losing some of its voting rights.

He used today’s speech to say that he has cut the UN budget by 15% this year and added that he has “eliminated more than 4,000 positions from the UN bureaucracy”.

“The United Nations has great, great potential. I’ve said that for many years, but it must stop imposing the far-left agenda of globalist bureaucrats who nobody ever elected,” said Trump.

He also called on “all nations that are members of the International Criminal Court to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately”.

Meanwhile, Trump said the US “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence”.

He also called for AI to be renamed “super intelligence” and added that this is the term that the US government will now use for the technology.

Trump claimed that “the use of the word ‘artificial’ makes intelligence fake. It makes it sound fake, and it is not fake”.

Trump tells the UN he is officially changing the name of Artificial Intelligence to "Super Intelligence" and says all US government documents will now be changed to refer to "SI" pic.twitter.com/LEWbc5tn3B

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2026

“Welcome to the new world of super intelligence – SI,” said Trump.

“Every major new technology brings challenges, and superintelligence is no exception.”

He also reiterated his recent remarks dismissing AI concerns as a “hoax”.

As well as his closely watched speech to the General Assembly, Trump will hold side meetings with Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Japanese premier Sanae Takaichi and Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has governed under intense American pressure since her predecessor Nicolás Maduro was captured by US forces in January.

Escalator gate

Last year, Trump’s speech to the gathering of world leaders veered into a rant about an escalator that stalled as he was using it, suggesting it was done deliberately.

Here’s when the UN escalator stopped working the second Trump & Melania got to it

(The teleprompter stopped right when he started his speech also) pic.twitter.com/fxmDetY3Yb

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) September 23, 2025

He also railed against a defective teleprompter, falsely accused London’s mayor of imposing Islamic law and said Europe was in “serious trouble” over migration.

Trump clearly has not got over the incidents.

“They turned off the escalator,” Trump said last week in the Oval Office.

“Fortunately, my first lady was very strong and I was able to grab her back or another part of her body. It was actually a little bit lower than the back,” he said.

🤦🏻‍♀️
Q: You're speaking to the United Nations next week. What is your message?

TRUMP: Well, last year my teleprompter operator was banned from the room. So I was standing there without a teleprompter. Isn't it nice?

Q: What's your message?

TRUMP: Do you remember that? They… pic.twitter.com/6xBMOwrYvW

— #Anonymous (@TheStripesGirl) September 19, 2026

The offending escalator “has been checked and rechecked,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

“New arrangements were made to facilitate the US delegation’s use of a teleprompter, they now have a separate booth, so we hope that will work without a hitch,” he added.

Indeed, Trump’s escalator ride posed no problems this time round.

a journalist trolls Trump, who has spent the last year whining about the UN's escalators: "Be careful with the stairs!" pic.twitter.com/MeXPFoCqlk

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2026

AI and war

Guterres kicked off the week of speeches by warning of the “spectre of ethnic cleansing” in Israel’s settlements expansion in the occupied West Bank.

He also called for US-Chinese dialogue on the future of AI and singled out global energy companies for treating the atmosphere “as an open sewer.”

Brazilian President Lula Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country by tradition is always first to speak at the annual gathering of leaders, spoke before Trump.

Leftist Lula, running for reelection, said last week that he would tell Trump to not “meddle” in Brazil’s upcoming vote.

Addressing the UN, he vowed to prevent foreign and domestic “enemies of democracy” from influencing Brazil’s upcoming polls, amid a simmering row with Washington over alleged election interference.

“We have a modern and robust election system under the watchful eye of a pluralistic citizenry and a free press,” Lula said at the UN.

“We will not allow the enemies of democracy, whether domestic or foreign, to undermine the popular will.”

He also said the world is held hostage by the paralysis of the UN’s top body, the Security Council.

“We are all held hostage by the inaction of the Security Council for failing to fulfill its role,” he said.

- With additional reporting from © AFP 2026