At UN, Trump threatens to 'totally destroy North Korea'
19 Sep 2017 5:09 PM GMT
NEW YORK: President Trump warned the United Nations in a speech Tuesday that the world faces "great peril" from gathering threats posed by rogue regimes with powerful weapons and terrorists with expanding reach across the globe, issuing a call to fellow leaders to join the United States in the fight to defeat them.
"We meet at a time of immense promise and great peril," Trump said in his maiden address to more than 150 international delegations at the annual U.N. General Assembly. "It is up to us whether we will lift the world to new heights or let it fall into a valley of disrepair."
The president's address was highly anticipated around the world for signs of how his administration would engage with the U.N. after he had criticized the organization during his campaign as being bloated and ineffective. Trump offered a hand to fellow leaders but also called on them to embrace "national sovereignty" and to do more to ensure the prosperity and security of their own countries.
"I will always put America first just like you, the leaders of your countries, should put your countries first," Trump said.
The president warned of growing threats from North Korea and Iran, and he said, "The scourge of our planet is a group of rogue regimes." He praised the UN for enacting economic sanctions on Pyongyang, but he also said that if Kim Jong Un's regime continued to threaten the United States and its allies and destabilize East Asia, his administration would be prepared to defend the country.
"We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea," Trump said, before calling Kim by a nickname he gave the dictator on Twitter over the weekend. "Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself."
Trump added, "If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph."
Trump also called the UN-backed Iran nuclear deal "an embarrassment" to the United States and hinted that his administration could soon declare Tehran out of compliance. That could potentially unravel the accord. Trump and his top aides have been critical of Iran for its support of terrorism in the Middle East.
"I don't think you've heard the end of it," Trump said.
In a meeting with media executives Tuesday shortly before Trump's address, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran has complied fully with its commitments under the Iran deal and predicted the United States will be the loser if it "tramples upon" the 2015 agreement.
"Everyone will clearly see that Iran has lived up to its agreements and that the United States is therefore a country that cannot be trusted," Rouhani said.
"We will be the winners," he added, while the United States "will certainly sustain losses."
Rouhani also seemed to suggest a U.S. withdrawal would free Iran from its obligations under the deal, which lifted nuclear-related sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.
"It will mean that this agreement has seen a foundational problem, and under those conditions, Iran will be freed to choose another set of conditions," he said.
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