Trump threatens Iran in fiery UN speech. What's next?
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What did President Trump say in his fiery UN speech and why does it matter?
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump used his U.N. address to lay out a stark choice for Iran.
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 or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?
This is USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. For more on what took place at the U.N., I'm joined by USA Today White House correspondent Francesca Chambers. So good to speak to you, Francesca.
Thanks so much for having me. A special edition, by the way, because I'm in York attending the United Nations. So this is great. So I know that you were watching this
closely. What was the biggest surprise, either in what Trump said or what he chose not to say?
One of the things that really stood out to us was that he went hard after Cuba in his speech. He said that Cuba will fall and he talked about the new relationship. He said that the United States wants to have with Cuba. Those remarks at the United Nations prompted the Cuban delegation to walk out of the president's speech. So his focus on the Western Hemisphere itself wasn't something that was particularly a surprise.
Why did Trump focus so heavily on Cuba and how did the Cuban delegation react?
I mean, we knew that he talked about Venezuela and the operation earlier this year. to capture Nicolas Maduro, the country's former president, who's now been deposed by the United States. And we also knew that he would meet with Delcy Rodriguez, who's the interim president who's being backed by the United States. Those two things were things that we were watching specifically because it was his first meetings with Rodriguez that they've had since that operation earlier this year and the first also since the U.S. began seizing and selling Venezuela's oil. So the focus on the Western Hemisphere itself, not particularly surprised, but definitely did not expect him to go in as hard as he did on Cuba from the podium.
Before the speech, there was a lot of speculation that Trump might confront US allies. Instead, he focused heavily on adversaries. What seemed to drive that shift?
Yeah. Asked what his message to the United Nations was going to be in the Oval Office leading into his speech. He was focused on the teleprompter and escalator issue that he'd had the year before. So signaling, you know, that he still had some grievances from last year. And if you've looked at his remarks over the last couple of weeks, he has spent a lot of time being very frustrated with U.S. allies. saying that they didn't help enough with the war against Iran. That's where his mindset had been. So then he took the stage and he didn't even mention Canada, by the way, even though the U.S. is currently in a bitter trade dispute with Canada.
How did recent Greenland‑Denmark military deals influence Trump’s UN messaging?
And he only really mentioned NATO in passing. Instead, he did focus on U.S. adversaries. One thing that may have contributed to that is in the days ahead of his United Nations speech, the U.S. was able to ink a deal with Greenland and Denmark for the United States to be able to expand its military presence. They did the formal deal signing at the United Nations immediately after Trump's speech, but it was something they came to an agreement on in the days leading up to the United Nations. So he may have at that point been feeling a little bit better about the NATO alliance At the signing, he said that it was something that would help the United States' security. It would help European security. And the U.S.
was promoting it ahead of President Trump's remarks as permanently addressing the issues that he had. This comes as earlier this year, you'll recall that he talked about taking Greenland the easy way or taking Greenland the hard way. And that really ruffled feathers among America's allies and set off concern. Then he said that he wouldn't take Greenland by force and that there would be some sort of deal that was made. But that was back in January when he was making these comments.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What did President Trump say in his fiery UN speech and why does it matter?
0:04–1:31
2
Why did Trump focus so heavily on Cuba and how did the Cuban delegation react?
1:31–3:01
3
How did recent Greenland‑Denmark military deals influence Trump’s UN messaging?
3:01–4:35
4
What diplomatic steps followed Trump’s aggressive rhetoric toward Iran?
4:35–6:16
5
How are domestic political pressures, like the Iran war and diesel prices, reflected in the speech?
6:16–8:16
6
What is the status of U.S. weapons and Patriot missile support for Ukraine?
8:16–9:59
7
What was Trump’s overarching message about America’s role as a superpower?
9:59–12:29
8
What can we expect from Trump’s upcoming high‑stakes summit with China’s Xi Jinping?
12:29–14:13
Speakers
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