Iran has dismissed Donald Trump’s threat to “annihilate” the country as propaganda, warning that any US military action could provoke devastating retaliation against American interests.
Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said he faced a choice between reaching an agreement that would allow Iran to rebuild and launching further strikes to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” and “drive them into Hell.”
The US president also condemned what he called Iran’s “fanatical” leadership, accusing it of killing more than 72,000 of its own citizens this year. He further alleged that 10,000 people had recently been killed during protests.
In a statement broadcast by Iran’s Press TV, the Iranian Armed Forces warned that any aggressors would face “even harsher, crushing, and unpredictable blows.”
“The rhetoric of the US president will not alter the balance of power calculations,” the statement said, adding that it could not reverse what Iran described as America’s weakened standing in the emerging global order or its “humiliating defeats” in the war against Iran and the regional Resistance Front.
Despite the hostile exchanges, Trump said he had held a “very good meeting” with Iranian representatives. He argued that Iran still had a choice between pursuing “potential greatness” and facing “obliteration.”
“It’s to their advantage to make a deal,” Trump said, adding that another meeting with Iranian officials had been scheduled for the near future.
President Donald Trump addresses the United Nations General Assembly
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian takes part in a farewell ceremony before travelling to New York for the UN General Assembly
Smoke and flames rise from the scene of airstrikes at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran
Details of the reported discussions were not immediately released. However, the talks were expected to focus on the continuing conflict in Iran and possible routes toward ending it, echoing earlier negotiations between the two countries.
Oil prices moved lower on Wednesday after Trump said US and Iranian representatives had met.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell to $98.91 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate contract dropped to $89.93 in early Asian trading. Both prices remained below the symbolic $100 level they had repeatedly surpassed since the Middle East conflict began in February.
Almost seven months after US and Israeli strikes on Tehran set off the conflict, Washington and Tehran remain deadlocked. Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz closed, while the United States continues to enforce a counter-blockade around Iranian ports.
At the same time, a separate confrontation between Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-supported Houthi fighters in Yemen has spread toward the kingdom, putting further pressure on energy shipments through the Red Sea.
Trump has promised that oil prices will fall “as soon as” the United States wins the war.
The decline in crude prices followed reports that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, had restarted activity on its East-West Pipeline. The vital export route was closed after the conflict intensified across the Middle East.
Riyadh said earlier this month that drones launched from Iraq had forced the pipeline to shut. Saudi Arabia had increasingly relied on the route as an alternative to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The kingdom hopes to resume exports through the pipeline later this week, according to a source cited by Bloomberg.
Saudi oil producer Aramco reportedly told Asian refiners they could soon collect crude from the Red Sea port of Yanbu. However, Bloomberg reported that European customers had been informed they would receive no allocated oil in October.
The annual parade of UN General Assembly speeches is set to continue, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian having arrived on Tuesday evening, according to Iranian state media.
He is set to address the world body for the first time since the US and Israel launched attacks on his country.
Iranians drive next to an anti-US billboard carrying a sentence in Persian that reads, ‘The devil army will be drowned in the Persian Gulf’
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Trump’s roving envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the UN’s signature diplomatic gathering.
Araghchi said that Tehran’s demands included ‘the immediate lifting of the (US) naval blockade, the prompt payment of all Iranian assets that have been frozen, and an end to the war on all resistance fronts,’ state news agency IRIB reported.
Meanwhile, even tighter US sanctions intended to cripple Iranian aviation come into force on Wednesday, after Washington vowed to ‘shut down’ Tehran’s carriers and punish anyone doing business with them.
In their first acknowledgement of disruption, Iranian media reported late Tuesday that flights to the Iraqi and Omani capitals would be cancelled the following day, but other routes would be unaffected.
The new measures, announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday, follow earlier aviation sanctions as well as his threat of an ‘economic D-Day’ meant to force the Islamic republic into submission, after military means of ending the Middle East war stall.
It remained unclear what their full impact would be, as the Iranian aviation sector has already been targeted for years by various sanctions.
