Trump Signals Openness to Meeting Iran's Pezeshkian at UN General Assembly

US President Donald Trump has signalled that he would probably be open to meeting his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, even as Washington weighs its next military step and keeps economic pressure on Tehran.

Trump's remarks came in response to a question about whether he would be willing to sit down with the Iranian president during the assembly's high-level week. He described three broad options for dealing with Iran: eliminating it, letting it "rot economically", or reaching a deal. Big developments, he suggested, could unfold before long.

Pezeshkian is in New York for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, which runs from September 22 to 26 and again on September 28. He is the most senior Iranian official to travel to the United States since the Middle East war began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Trump to press his case

Trump is scheduled to address the assembly on Tuesday, where he is expected to defend the US action in Iran and argue that the war is necessary to keep Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. His chief envoy to the UN, Ambassador Mike Waltz, said the president would highlight how his administration has "confronted complex problems head-on" around the world, and would point to progress on his 20-point peace plan for Gaza and other achievements of the past year.

The address comes as the war in Iran enters its seventh month with no clear end, and amid allied doubts about Washington's reliability as a partner and broader unease about artificial intelligence.

Later on Tuesday, Trump is due to meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and representatives of the Gulf states of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. He may also greet dozens more leaders briefly at an evening reception.

The seven-way gathering with Gulf leaders is likely to draw close attention, given their alarm over recent advances by the Iran-backed Houthis, who have seized large parts of Yemen, attacked Saudi Arabia and threatened shipping through the Bab el-Mandab strait.

Iran's pitch

Pezeshkian is expected to use his own address to set out Iran's positions on international developments, with a focus on the war with the US and Israel. Before leaving Iran, he said his country would "firmly defend" its stance and make the best use of the platform to convey what he described as the Iranian people's plight to the world.

He also said Tehran had repeatedly gone to the negotiating table and signed agreements, only for commitments to go unfulfilled. On the sidelines, Pezeshkian is expected to hold talks with several leaders as well as meetings with Iranian expatriates in the US and with American think tanks.

Hormuz standoff

At the heart of the conflict is the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic through the corridor, which carried a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons before the war, has been badly disrupted, with Iran firing on commercial vessels and demanding approval over passage. The US has responded with a counterblockade of Iranian ports and stepped-up economic pressure.