Donald Trump unleashed broadside after broadside against Iran on Tuesday at the United Nations, warning that the ‘rogue state’ is still racing toward the completion of a nuclear weapon that would destabilize the entire Middle East.
‘Major portions of the world are in conflict, and some in fact are going to hell,’ he said, in a speech to the General Assembly that included direct attacks on Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.
The Obama administration entered into an agreement with Tehran and five other world powers in 2016, which it said would prevent Iran’s rise as a nuclear military power.
During speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump hinted that the ‘rogue state’ of Iran is still racing toward the completion of a nuclear weapon
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani (left), shown shaking hands with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday, warned that exiting the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement ‘would carry a high cost for the United States of America’
Trump delivered his first address to the 193-nation body on Tuesday in New York City
Iran says it has a right to peaceful nuclear development for electric power, and denies that it is pursuing weapons.
The nation agreed to limit its number of nuclear centrifuges and to stop building heavy-water reactors for 15 years.
Amid doubts that Iran is keeping up its end of the bargain, the Trump White House has suggested that the deal needs to be scrapped if it can’t be renegotiated with tougher safeguards against cheating.
‘We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles. And we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program,’ Trump said, drawing applause from leaders of more than 180 nations in the room.
‘The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it, believe me,’ he said.
‘It’s time for the entire world to join us in demanding that Iran’s government end its pursuit of death and destruction.’
Big fan: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahucalled Trump’s speech ‘courageous’
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told CNN on Monday exiting the Obama administration’s agreement ‘would carry a high cost for the United States of America, and I do not believe Americans would be willing to pay such a high cost for something that will be useless for them.’
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, blasted Trump after his speech.
‘By suggesting he would revisit and possibly cancel the Iran nuclear agreement, he greatly escalated the danger we face from both Iran and North Korea,’ she said in a statement.
‘What nation would negotiate with the United States when the agreements we reach with other countries are so easily undermined?’
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump.
‘In over 30 years in my experience with the UN, I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech,’ he said in a statement.
‘President Trump spoke the truth about the great dangers facing our world and issued a powerful call to confront them in order to ensure the future of humanity.’
The room delivered a round of applause when he declared that the U.S. ‘cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program’
‘The longest suffering victims of Iran’s leaders are, in fact, its own people,’ Trump said, slamming Tehran for funneling oil profits to terror groups instead of to developing and feeding its people
Trump also castigated Iran’s mullahs on Tuesday for confiscating oil revenues and shunting the money to terrorist groups and other villainous regimes.
‘The Iranian government masks a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy,’ he said. ‘It has turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos.’
‘The longest suffering victims of Iran’s leaders are, in fact, its own people. Rather than use its resources to improve Iranian lives, its oil profits go to fund Hezbollah and other terrorists that kill innocent Muslims and attack their peaceful Arab and Israeli neighbors.’
‘This wealth, which rightly belongs to Iran’s people, also goes to shore up Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship, fuel Yemen’s civil war and undermine peace throughout the Middle East,’ he said.
‘It is time for the regime to free all Americans and citizens of other nations that they have unjustly detained. And above all, Iran’s government must stop supporting terrorists, begin serving its own people and respect the sovereign rights of its neighbors.’
After the speech, Trump told reporters: ‘I think it went really well. I said what I had to say,’ according to the Fox News Channel.