UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for the complete economic isolation of Iran, in a combative address to the UN General Assembly, but later said Washington and Tehran had been in contact, predicting that both sides would eventually reach a settlement.
He also reiterated that he expected a deal with Tehran after the US midterm elections in November.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also told NBC that Washington was open to speaking with the Iranians, ‘especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about’.
But in his speech to the UN, Trump gave no sign of any readiness to compromise. ‘I call on all nations to help to enforce the complete economic isolation of Iran,’ he said. The US president said that he had to choose whether to ‘annihilate’ Iran if it fails to make a deal to end the Middle East war.
‘I have a big decision to make will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world?’ Trump said.
‘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 Trump reiterated that he thought an agreement was possible after US midterm elections in November in which his Republican party faces losing control of Congress at least partly due to high fuel prices caused by the war.
In a 37-minute speech ahead of a whirlwind diplomatic schedule that included meetings with the leaders of Britain, Ukraine and Japan, Trump laid out his foreign policy vision, arguing that the Iran war had spared the world the threat of a nuclear-armed menace while asserting US dominance in the Western Hemisphere is essential to preventing crises from taking root.
‘Our actions in Venezuela are proof that the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere,Trump said.
Taking aim at US neighbors, Trump labeled Mexico ‘the epicentre of cartel violence,’ urged its government to ‘reclaim control of its soil,’ and said his administration was pursuing ‘a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba.
Members of the Cuban delegation walked out of the hall as Trump referenced his pressure campaign against the country.
He also renewed criticism of international bodies that could serve as a check on US power, singling out the International Criminal Court and declaring that US military personnel would not be subject to its authority.
‘We will never allow US service members or anyone else to be investigated or given show trials by an anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us,’ he said.
Iran sees ‘golden opportunity’ A senior Iranian official told Reuters earlier that the US should ‘announce that it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically, make that official, and then agree on a timeline’.
‘The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy,’ the official said.
No face-to-face meetings between Iran and the United States are known to have taken place since July, when an agreement on an interim deal to end the war collapsed weeks after it was signed.
In a reminder of Iran’s firm position so far, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who headed Iran’s negotiating team at previous talks, said Iran would never surrender. ‘Trump must understand that he cannot impose his power on the Iranian people and its armed forces,’ he said.
Trump is also expected to meet with leaders of the six Gulf Arab states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
All are keen to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war, but wary of giving their long-standing rival Iran too much power.
All apart from Oman also host huge US military bases that have come under repeated Iranian attack throughout the war.-Agencies