At the U.N. General Assembly, Trump took aim at Iran, singling out the Islamic Republic’s international terror-sponsorship and its military proxies throughout the Mideast.
By: AP and World Israel News Staff
President Donald Trump dressed down Iran on Tuesday at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, warning Tehran that it faced severe consequences if it defied the United States.
In a speech by the president before the U.N. General Assembly, Trump blasted Iran’s “corrupt dictatorship” and accused its leaders of enriching themselves through embezzlement and raiding state coffers to spread “mayhem.”
Trump also vowed to continue to isolate Iran through U.S. sanctions that are being re-instated following his withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. The next round of sanctions will take effect in early November.
He later predicted that the pressure from renewed sanctions would force Iran back to the table to negotiate.
“Iran’s leaders sow chaos, death and destruction,” the president told the U.N. General Assembly in a 34-minute speech. “They do not respect their neighbors or borders or the sovereign rights of nations. Instead Iran’s leaders plunder the nation’s resources to enrich themselves and to spread mayhem across the Middle East and far beyond.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who also addressed the U.N., launched a scathing attack on Trump and his administration accusing the United States on Tuesday of trying to overthrow his government.
Trump and his aides, meanwhile, stepped up their attacks on the nuclear deal, with Trump calling it “horrible” and maintained that many Middle Eastern countries had supported the decision to withdraw, referring to Israel and Gulf Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The other parties to the deal, under which Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, remain in the agreement and met Monday in New York to reaffirm their support for it. Aside from Iran, the other participants are Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union.
After that meeting, the top diplomats from those countries and the EU agreed to establish a financial facility in the European Union to facilitate payments for Iranian imports and exports including oil, a key move sought by Tehran as it attempts to fight back against the re-imposed U.S. sanctions.