Donald Trump at UN asks "Will a deal be made with Iran" or "do I annihilate the Islamic Republic"

At the UN General Assembly, President Donald Trump said his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held roughly three hours of indirect talks with Iranian officials through Qatari intermediaries—the first such contact since a June ceasefire fell apart. Trump called the discussion good but noted the Iranian participants were not senior-level, and Witkoff voiced optimism. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran’s terms were unchanged, including demands that Washington stop blocking Iranian ports and unfreeze Iranian assets, while playing down the meeting. In his UN speech, Trump framed his choice as either a negotiated settlement with Iran or swift military action, as strikes persisted near the Strait of Hormuz and commercial traffic remained lower than before the almost seven-month conflict.