Trump Offers Iran 'Annihilation or a Deal' as Envoys Push Talks at UN

US President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that Iran faces a choice between a negotiated settlement and destruction, even as he held out the prospect of an agreement in the near term.

"I have a big decision to make," Trump said in his address in New York, asking whether a deal would let Iran "rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before" or whether he should "annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly."

Iran's Armed Forces dismissed the remarks as "propaganda," saying in a statement that their answer was "full readiness to inflict more severe, crushing, and unpredictable blows on the aggressors."

Talks continue behind the rhetoric

Away from the public exchanges, efforts continued to halt a conflict now nearly seven months old, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes and has killed thousands, pushed oil prices higher and drawn in neighbouring states.

Trump said envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had held a "very productive meeting" with Iranian mediators, adding that there was "a lot of momentum" toward a deal. He also met leaders of Middle Eastern states that want shipping restored through the Strait of Hormuz — the route for a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war — but are wary of handing their longstanding rival Iran too much influence. Several of those states host large US military bases that have been repeatedly attacked by Iran during the conflict.

Trump suggested the Iran situation could be resolved around the November 3 midterm elections, "maybe before." The diplomacy unfolds as he confronts rising energy costs at home, a widening regional conflict and midterms six weeks away.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi met Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose country has spent months trying to de-escalate the war, according to the Qatari state news agency.

A senior Iranian official said Tehran had sent its latest proposal to Washington through mediators last week and could reopen the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf shipping within seven days if the US eased military pressure and lifted its blockade on Iranian ports. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who led Iran's team at earlier talks, said Tehran would never surrender, adding that Trump "cannot impose his power on the Iranian people and its armed forces."

Gulf security proposal on the table

At the meeting with Trump, Gulf states discussed a Qatari proposal for a common security framework involving Iran and the Arab Gulf states, regional sources said, with one source indicating Iran was reviewing it. Al Thani has said any such arrangement would need to provide security guarantees for the Gulf states and expand economic interdependence with Iran.

Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf state, has been pulled deeper into the war this month as Iran-aligned Houthi fighters advanced in Yemen, routing forces of the Saudi-backed government and threatening Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea. Washington, which bombed the Houthis for two months last year, has so far rebuffed repeated pleas from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to rejoin the fight. It was reported that Trump called off US strikes against the Houthis on Sunday at the last minute.

Asked why Washington had held back, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would always support Saudi Arabia, but described the conflict as "very dangerous and complex" and said Washington did not want its history with the Houthis to be affected.

Oil markets found some relief after sources said Saudi Arabia had restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline and could resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu within hours, though at reduced volumes. The pipeline, Riyadh's main export route bypassing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, had been shut after attacks this month that Saudi Arabia blamed on Iranian-backed groups in Iraq.