Trump Threatens a Country of 92 Million With Annihilation

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September, the President of the United States said he had a decision to make on Iran: a deal, or to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” and drive it “into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations.” The White House release on the speech, published the same afternoon, quotes eleven passages. That one is not among them.

President Donald Trump spoke to the General Debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 22 September 2026, nearly seven months into the war between the United States and Iran. The address ranged across Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, drug cartels and artificial intelligence. The passage on Iran is reproduced here in full. Confirmed

This publication's Conflict and Security coverage has followed the war through the Strait of Hormuz and its effect on fuel. This piece sets down what was said at the UN rostrum, what the White House published about it, and what happened in the hall and in the hours after.

What Trump Said to the UN About Iran, Word for Word

Donald Trump, President of the United States, General Debate of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, 22 September 2026. The video record is published by UN Web TV. The wording is as transcribed by ABC News. The Washington Post transcribes the same three sentences independently, and The Associated Press the first two. Confirmed

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the country's official name. Confirmed The World Bank puts its population at 92.4 million in 2025, the most recent year in its dataset. Measured

The Washington Post's account of the speech wrote that, taken seriously, the threat amounted to a contemplation of mass slaughter, with deadly consequences for Iran's 93 million people. That characterisation and that population figure are the Post's. The same account reported that the President has shown little inclination for large-scale assaults on Iran since the opening weeks of the war, despite repeated threats. Confirmed as reported

He then placed the choice after the United States midterm elections. “They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election,” he said, according to both ABC News and The Washington Post. Confirmed Later in the address he said: “In addition, the United States and Iran will definitely get it done. We will get it done, one way or the other. It's going to be done. It's got to be done fast.” Confirmed as reported

ABC News reported the same day that since the war began the President has made “repeated threats to launch devastating attacks on Iran, only to pull back in hopes of a deal,” and counted at least eight such occasions. That count is ABC's own. Confirmed as reported

The White House Version

At 1:04 p.m. eastern daylight time the White House published a release on the address under the title “President Trump at the United Nations: 'While Others Have Talked, I Have Acted'.” It describes the speech as “a powerful message: American strength and resolve is back” and quotes eleven passages from it, each with a link to video of that passage. Confirmed

One of the eleven concerns Iran directly. It quotes the President calling the Islamic Republic “the number one sponsor of terror” and saying: “From the first day I entered the political arena, I have been unwavering, I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Another quotes his statement that the Iranian government “slaughtered over 72,000 of its citizens this year.” That figure is the President's, as the release quotes it. Confirmed

None of the eleven passages contains the word “annihilate,” the phrase “into hell,” or the words “no hope of future greatness or generations.” Confirmed

Confirmed UN Web TV video of the address; The White House release of 22 September 2026, read in full that day.

In the Hall

Most of Iran's delegation walked out of the chamber as the President spoke about the Islamic Republic, according to both The Associated Press and The Independent. Confirmed

The Cuban delegation rose and left the assembly hall when the President said his administration was “seeking a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba” and that “we'll not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep,” according to ABC News and The Independent. This publication set out the record on that subject in an earlier piece on Cuba. Confirmed

The Secretary-General, António Guterres, opened the session earlier that day. “The fault lines in our world are widening,” he told the Assembly, as carried by The Guardian. Confirmed as reported

The Same Afternoon, a Meeting

After the speech the President told reporters that his two chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, had met Iranian officials on the sidelines of the Assembly that day. “It was a very good meeting,” he said, according to both The Associated Press and The Washington Post. Confirmed

The Post reported that the talks lasted three hours and were the first known face-to-face meetings between the two sides in months, and quoted the President: “It's greatness, potential greatness, or obliteration.” The Associated Press quoted him describing the Iranian officials as “not the highest level, but it's something,” and reported that he gave few details of what was discussed. Confirmed as reported

The Associated Press placed the meeting against months of stalled contact. A ceasefire brokered in June collapsed. United States and Iranian negotiators met separately with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha in early July for indirect talks. Earlier on 22 September the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said on NBC that the President was open to meeting Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, while in New York. Confirmed as reported

The Claims Made About the War

In the same address the President made claims about what the war has done to Iran. UN News, the United Nations' own news service, reported them in its Chinese-language account of the speech: that United States operations had sunk all 159 of Iran's naval vessels, eliminated its air force and air defences, and pushed Iran's inflation above 300 per cent. These are the President's claims about the side he is fighting. The fact that he made them is on the record. The figures are his. Confirmed as reported

The Associated Press reported, in its own words, that strikes by the United States and Israel have killed much of Iran's top leadership and destroyed its air force and navy, and that a United States blockade of Iranian oil has left Tehran in economic shambles. Confirmed as reported

Where It Reaches a Household

The President tied the outcome to the price of oil himself. “If we stand united, we will soon see a world free of the last 51-year menace of Iranian terror, and oil prices will come plummeting down even lower than they were at the start of the conflict,” he said, according to ABC News. That is a forecast, and it is his. Confirmed as reported

The prices it refers to are these, as they stood on the day of the speech in the United States.

Confirmed as reported GasBuddy figures, as reported by ABC News on 22 September 2026. United States dollars.

The Associated Press reported that oil prices remain elevated, that Saudi Arabia shut a key pipeline earlier this month after it came under attack by Iran-backed militants in Iraq, and that Houthi territorial gains near the Bab al-Mandab Strait have made that Red Sea route treacherous for oil carriers. The President called on Iran in the address to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Confirmed as reported The pipeline closure is the subject of this publication's report of 12 September.

The figures above are American. Canadian pump prices are set against the same world crude benchmarks, so a change in the oil market reaches both. That is reasoning, not measurement.

What the Record Shows

On the video record of 22 September, the President of the United States told the General Assembly that he was deciding whether to make a deal with Iran or to annihilate the Islamic Republic and leave it “no hope of future greatness or generations.” The White House release of the same day quotes eleven passages from that address, and that passage is not one of them. In the hours after the speech, the President said his envoys had met Iranian officials and called the meeting very good. All three are on the public record, dated, and in the President's own words or his own office's.

Nothing published here is investment, legal or security advice.