President Trump revealed Tuesday that his special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held a three-hour meeting with Iranian leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The secretly arranged sitdown began around 10 a.m. and was underway as Trump threatened to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” and “drive them into hell” during his speech to the annual gathering of world leaders.
It was not immediately clear who represented Iran, though the country’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were in New York to attend UN meetings.
“It was a very good meeting, I must tell you,” Trump told reporters just before 2 p.m. during a press availability with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to [make a deal]. It’s potential greatness or obliteration. It’s two choices.”
“They had a very good meeting, very productive meeting, and they have another one scheduled in the very near future,” Trump told stunned journalists.
It was the first known high-level negotiation between the two sides since a cease-fire and memorandum of understanding collapsed in July.
Trump vacillated between threats of intense violence and predictions of peace throughout the day.
“Certainly it’s to their advantage to make a deal. And if we can do that, it’s preferable, I guess. There’s two alternatives and you heard them in my speech today, and one is a very bad thing,” Trump said announcing the talks.
“I mean, in one case, it’s obliteration, and the other alternative is potential greatness. It could be a great country.”
Witkoff declined to elaborate, telling the press, “I feel very good right now.”
Leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were urging Trump to avoid any escalation with Iran in favor of diplomacy.
Iran last week offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a seven-day period if the US agrees to end its blockade and military pressure campaign, Reuters reported.
During an afternoon meeting with Middle Eastern leaders, Trump said he might order air raids on Iran’s alleged nuclear facility at Pickaxe Mountain, saying, “We’re not seeing a lot of activity there, but if we do, we’ll blow it up immediately.”
“We think that the situation with Iran could end right after the midterm elections, maybe before. You never know,” Trump told the group including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
He said there could be “a time when it’s too late, and we won’t have a chance of letting them survive as a nation” — also predicting “I think they are” going to make a deal because “the other alternative is not an acceptable alternative for anybody.”
Earlier in the day, Trump delivered his annual speech to the General Assembly beginning around 10:30 a.m. with his audience oblivious to the talks underway.
“I have a big decision to make: Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East?” the president asked.
“Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness for generations?”
Iranian diplomats walked out during Trump’s remarks.
Trump warned Tehran in the address not to count on a potential Democratic victory in the Nov. 3 congressional elections — even though that would likely increase pressure on his administration to end the war.
“I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran. It doesn’t even enter my mind. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump declared.
“We are settling years of unfinished business. And we’re doing it well.”
Trump previously signed a memorandum of understanding with Iranian leaders on June 17, but that tentative peace deal fell apart weeks later when Iran attacked several commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz for using a US-preferred route along the Omani coast.
The conflict has caused a surge in global energy prices and inflation, in turn prompting the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates, dragging on Republican popularity ahead of the midterm elections.
