Overview
- President Donald Trump used the UN podium to say he could "annihilate" Iran, a threat that prompted most of the Iranian delegation to stand and leave the General Assembly hall.
- Hours after Trump’s speech, U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held roughly three hours of mediated talks with Iranian representatives on the sidelines, a contact Trump described as "very good".
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded to Trump at the UN by displaying photos of children killed in the Minab strike, rejecting the label of terrorist, and insisting Tehran is open to diplomacy without accepting force.
- Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff warned of more "crushing" and "less predictable" strikes while Tehran presented hardened preconditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including the immediate release of frozen funds and an end to naval blockades.
- Regional mediators such as Qatar are shuttling messages, commercial shipping through Hormuz remains disrupted, and the talks now hinge on sequencing—who makes the first tangible concessions—while higher fuel prices raise political stakes for the United States.