America just threatened to annihilate Iran and then sat down to negotiate with it
6 days ago · 25 September 2026Share
US president Donald Trump speaking at the lectern of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2025. The White House (Daniel Torok) · Public domain
Donald Trump just told the whole world he might annihilate Iran.
He said it a few hours ago, at the UN General Assembly in New York, in front of world leaders.
And Iran's own delegation was in the room.
Donald Trump says quote "or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly".
He also asked the hall whether he should send Iran into ruin, with no chance of survival and no hope of a future for generations to come.
That's the American president telling the UN that ending Iran is still on the table. Out loud. With Iran sitting right there.
So here's the twist.
A few hours after he said that, his own negotiators sat down with Iran's officials. For three hours.
Same UN session. Just down the hall.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy, was there. Trump says Jared Kushner was too, though that's Trump's word alone so far. Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, is the top Iranian official at the UN this week. Iranian state media say he met Steve Witkoff directly.
Donald Trump says quote "they had a very good meeting, a very productive meeting".
He says another one is planned soon. Steve Witkoff called it good as well.
So think about that. Same day. Trump threatens to annihilate Iran from the podium. Then his own team spends three hours talking to Iran's delegation.
Now, why isn't there a deal yet? Trump has his own answer.
He says Iran is waiting to see how he does in the midterm election. He says Iran expects a deal only after that vote.
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Photo of UN Headquarters building from Roosevelt Island. SY Globalnyc · CC BY-SA 4.0
And he says Iran's got it wrong, because he isn't running again. He says he already ran, and won by a landslide.
No Iranian official has answered that claim. And no Iranian official has answered the annihilation threat either, not on the record, not anywhere we can confirm. Iran's delegation is right there at the UN. It just hasn't said, publicly, what it makes of either one.
And here's why this looks more urgent for Trump than for Iran.
A CNN and SSRS poll came out the same day. 71% of American voters disapprove of how Trump is handling foreign affairs. That's the worst number of either of his terms.
Same poll. 76% say the Iran war hasn't been worth the lives or the money it's cost.
And Americans are feeling it at the pump too. Petrol in America is running about $4.46 to $4.47 a gallon right now. That's roughly a third to a half higher than before the war started.
Now, this isn't the first time annihilation has come up.
Trump told Axios last week he had a big decision coming up that could mean trying to annihilate Iran's government. He said anything could happen with him.
Earlier this summer he called talks with Iran a waste of time. At the same time, his administration was expanding sanctions on Iran and working to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
So the annihilation line itself isn't new.
What's new is where he said it. From the UN podium. With Iran's delegation in the building. On the same day his own negotiators were sitting across the table from them.
A couple of other things happened at the same UN session, worth knowing. Trump signed a security deal giving America wider powers to help defend Greenland, alongside Denmark and Greenland's own leaders. And when he said Cuba's government would fall, Cuba's delegation got up and walked out.
So what don't we know?
We don't know what that three-hour meeting actually produced, beyond both sides calling it good. We don't know if Iran sees these talks as a real opening, or just theatre while the war carries on. And we don't know if Trump's own election calendar is really driving Iran's timeline, or if that's just his explanation for why there's no deal yet.
Right now, both things are happening at once. Trump is threatening to annihilate Iran, in public. And his team is quietly negotiating with Iran, in private. Same day. Same building.
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