Khashayar Joneidi
BBC Persian correspondent in Washington
Image source, Getty ImagesIran’s high-level delegation was largely absent during Trump’s speech
Donald Trump presented Iran with a stark choice at the UN General Assembly: reach an agreement with Washington and rebuild the country, or face the rapid “annihilation” of the Islamic Republic. He then predicted that a deal would probably follow the US elections.
The remarks illustrate Trump’s familiar strategy of coercive diplomacy—keeping negotiations open while threatening overwhelming force.
But his language blurred the distinction between destroying the political system and threatening Iran itself. References to leaving “no chance of survival” and “no hope” for future generations pose a striking irony in delivering this warning at the United Nations, an organisation that was founded to save future generations from war.
Yet the speech was not a declaration that diplomacy has failed. It was an attempt to define the terms of possible negotiations: Washington remains prepared to make a deal, but only under the shadow of an existential threat.
