JERUSALEM, Israel – At Tuesday’s United Nations General Assembly opening session, President Trump warned that he could annihilate the Islamic Republic of Iran if there is no deal. Israel also fired back at France over remarks about Hamas on the West Bank, while American and Iranian envoys met behind the scenes.
The war with Iran took center stage as Trump warned leaders that the danger will only grow if the world waits.
He declared, “As president of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day. … They only become harder to solve. So while others have talked, I have acted.”
Trump also reminded the diplomats that Tehran rejected an offer to end its nuclear program and support for terror proxies in exchange for economic cooperation. Now, he said, the choice is his.
“But I have a big decision to make,” he noted. “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 (of Iran)…”
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As Trump put Iran on notice, Israel faced a different kind of attack from the U.N. podium, from U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
He stated, “Meanwhile, violence, displacement, and settlement expansion by Israel in the occupied West Bank are bulldozing the path to peace and raising the specter of ethnic cleansing.”
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon told JNS News that his country will not miss the outgoing U.N. chief.
“Anyone would be better than Secretary-General Guterres,” Danon said, and added, “We have seen the lack of leadership and the fact that he didn’t even visit Israel once after Oct. 7 and equated the IDF to Hamas.”
After Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron claimed, Just look at what’s happening in the West Bank, where day in, day out we are seeing violations, and in the name of what? Hamas was never reactive in the West Bank.”
That drew an immediate response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which cited a Hamas terror attack in Judea and Samaria just days earlier.
“The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. “On Sunday, the eve of Yom Kippur, just two days ago, Netanel Shukrun – a FRENCH CITIZEN and father of six – was murdered in his car by a Hamas terrorist in Judea and Samaria. With his final breath, he told his son to run.”
Israel also took aim at what it calls the U.N.’s repeated false accusations. In a new video, parrots fill the General Assembly Hall with one refrain: “Blame Israel!”
Yet, even as President Trump threatened Iran from the podium, American and Israeli envoys met behind closed doors. Iranian state media says Tehran delivered its terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz: lift the naval blockade, release assets, and end the war across what it calls “resistance fronts.”
