UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump is set to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday at a tumultuous moment for the world — and for his presidency.
The global economy has been shaken by his decision to launch a war against Iran. Anxiety about the social impact being wrought by artificial intelligence is surging. And questions linger about the future of the United Nations itself with Trump's scaling back US financial support for the United Nations.
Trump intends to use his address before the General Assembly to underscore that "he is using American power to confront longstanding challenges and reshape the world to America's benefit," according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
As he arrived at the UN, Trump briefly spoke to reporters, telling them it was an honor to address the world body before his attention suddenly shifted to his resentments with the news media.
Trump over the weekend announced a White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, claiming that their coverage of his presidency was biased. The news outlets have filed a lawsuit to restore their access to White House grounds. Trump snapped at a CNN reporter in the UN scrum.
"I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me," Trump said. "You shouldn't be here."
After his speech to the annual gathering of world leaders, Trump is expected to hold talks with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a more informal meeting with Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez, according to the White House.
He's also set to meet with leaders and senior officials from Gulf Cooperation Council nations — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates — to discuss the way ahead with the war in Iran and growing concern about recent Iran-backed rebel attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The visit to the UN comes when Trump's foreign policy approach — particularly his decision to start a war with Iran — has become a drag on his fellow Republicans' hopes of retaining control of both chambers of Congress during the coming midterm elections. Nevertheless, administration officials signaled Trump will make the case in his address that the world is better off for his leadership.
"We expect the president will highlight how he has and his administration have confronted complex problems head-on around the world," Ambassador Mike Waltz, Trump's chief envoy to the international body, told reporters.
Waltz also suggested that Trump might revisit some of his long-held criticism of the United Nations. The president has criticized the body as being ineffectual on issues of war and peace, has claimed the organization is perpetuating a "con job" by emphasizing the need to address global warming, and has asserted the UN has promoted the "invasion" of migrants into Europe.
Iran war to loom large
In last year's address at the UN, Trump claimed the US had "demolished" Iran's nuclear capabilities after he ordered the June 2025 bombardment of three key facilities.
He returns to the General Assembly nearing the seven-month mark of a new war against Iran that he insists is necessary to address a nuclear threat posed by Iran.
The war has grown more complicated even though strikes by the United States and Israel have killed much of Iran's top leadership and destroyed its air force and navy, while a US blockade of Iranian oil has left Tehran in economic shambles.
The energy market continues to be spooked by the war and oil prices remain elevated. Saudi Arabia earlier this month shuttered a key pipeline that acted as a relief valve for oil blocked in the Gulf. The kingdom made the move after the pipeline came under attack by Iran-backed militants in Iraq.
At the same time, territorial grabs by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels, another Iranian-backed group, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait has now made it treacherous for oil carriers to use that Red Sea shipping lane.
Majed al-Ansari, chief spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said Monday that Qatar and other mediators are trying to penetrate a "deep deficit of trust" between the US and Iran and get the sides back to negotiations.
"Either we sign a deal now or sign a deal 10 months away," said said al-Ansari, speaking at the Concordia Annual Summit, a global affairs forum taking place during the UN's high-level week. "The only difference is the number of dead and destruction that we see."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Trump is open to meeting with Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, while he's in New York for the General Assembly.
"This is a president that will meet with anybody for the most part, because he believes that engaging with people is important if you're going to solve problems," Rubio said on NBC's "Today" show. "It doesn't mean you're going to end up agreeing with them, but it's important."
The administration will sign a Greenland deal
At last year's General Assembly, Trump touted his record as a peacemaker and claimed that "everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize" for his administration's efforts mediating several conflicts around the globe.
This year, Trump is set to sign an agreement on the sidelines of the General Assembly with Danish and Greenlandic leaders that aims to set the pathway for the expansion of the US military's footprint on Greenland.
The deal, announced last week, came together after Trump repeatedly threatened to "take over" Greenland, a territory of NATO-ally Denmark, by military force if necessary.
Under the deal, Greenland remains Denmark's territory.
Trump's frustration with Russia-Ukraine war mounts
The president could also touch on Russia's continuing war against Ukraine during the address — a conflict that during his 2024 campaign he predicted would be resolved on Day One of his second term.
The president has routinely expressed frustration about the conflict. He hasn't obscured that his patience is being tested by Ukraine's targeting of Russia's diesel refineries — an issue that's added to oil markets' volatility — and Russia's targeting of Ukraine's energy grid.
Trump last week asserted that he got the two sides to agree to not target each other's energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy, who is scheduled to meet with Trump on Tuesday afternoon, said he was willing to go along with Trump's plan if Russia abided by it.
Russia said it could only go along with Trump's energy truce proposal if Western energy sanctions on Moscow were lifted first.
The two sides have continued carrying out strikes on refineries and other energy infrastructure.
