Iran Military Dismisses Trump's UN Threats as 'Domestic Propaganda', Warns of Retaliation

Iran's joint military command has dismissed US President Donald Trump's threats at the United Nations General Assembly as "domestic propaganda," warning that Tehran is prepared to deliver "even more severe, crushing, and unpredictable blows" to the United States and Israel.

In a statement read on state television, the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said Trump's "hostile remarks and repeated threats" and his use of the UN platform to cast "aggression, the creation of insecurity, and banditry" as legitimate were not grounded in realities on the ground.

The statement said the repetition of "baseless claims and threats," given what it described as the wear and tear of the US military, was "not a sign of strength but rather an indication of their strategic desperation." It accused Washington of taking the global economy hostage to compensate for "successive failures in acts of aggression against Iran and in maritime banditry."

According to the statement, Trump's rhetoric "does not alter the balance of power" and will not compensate for the United States' "diminished position in the emerging global order" or its "humiliating defeats in the war against Iran and the Resistance Front."

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump told the UN General Assembly that he had a "big decision to make" on renewing attacks. He asked whether a deal would be made with Iran that lets it "rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before," or whether he should "annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again."

Trump later said US and Iranian officials met shortly after his address, in which he threatened to "annihilate" Iran if a deal is not reached soon to end a nearly seven-month war. He offered few details about the talks.