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UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump said U.S. and Iranian officials met on Tuesday, an unexpected engagement that came even as he threatened in his address to the U.N. General Assembly that he may “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal isn’t reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Trump told reporters that his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders but he offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the substance of the exchange.

“It was a very good meeting,” Trump said. The president later added that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it’s something.”

The engagement comes after months of U.S.-Iran communications languishing following the collapse of a short-lived ceasefire that was brokered in June. U.S. and Iranian negotiators met separately with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha in early July for indirect talks.

Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump is open to meeting with Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, while he’s in New York for the General Assembly.

“This is a president that will meet with anybody for the most part, because he believes that engaging with people is important if you’re going to solve problems,” Rubio said on NBC’s Today show. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to end up agreeing with them, but it’s important.”

Trump also met on Tuesday with leaders and senior officials from Gulf Cooperation Council nations — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates — as well as Jordan to discuss the way ahead with the war in Iran.

In his address to the General Assembly, Trump made the case that he’s shown fortitude while other leaders have equivocated as he defended his decision to start a war with Iran.

But Trump also suggested that he could be at a crossroads in the conflict even as he called on the Islamic Republic to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table to find a settlement to end the conflict.

“I have a big decision to make,” Trump said. “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?”

The president’s comments came in his wide-ranging address to the international body in which he also celebrated this year’s U.S. military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power and a new agreement to expand the U.S. military presence in Greenland, and pushed back against calls for greater regulation of the artificial intelligence industry.

But at the heart of the address was a fulsome defense of the war and pushback on the notion that Iran has shown a measure of resilience.

“The terrorist regime is behaving badly, not because they are strong and confident, but because they are weak and desperate,” Trump said.

Most of Iran’s delegation walked out of the chamber as Trump railed against the Islamic Republic.

Trump’s speech began a busy day of diplomacy

After his speech, Trump gathered with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the General Assembly to sign a new security agreement.

The deal, announced last week, came together after Trump repeatedly threatened to “take over” Greenland, a territory of NATO-ally Denmark, by military force if necessary. Trump said Tuesday the U.S. will immediately begin the process of developing a larger military presence in Greenland including “building two very major military bases.”

Under the deal, Greenland remains Denmark’s territory.

Trump also held talks with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He was expected to hold a more informal meeting on Tuesday evening with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, according to the White House.

Trump also took part in an event on the Shield of Americas, an initiative Trump launched with Latin American countries earlier this year focused on combatting violent cartels.

Iran war looms large at General Assembly

The visit to the U.N. comes as Trump’s foreign policy approach — particularly his decision to start a war with Iran — has become a drag on his fellow Republicans’ hopes of retaining control of both chambers of Congress during the coming midterm elections. Nevertheless, Trump made the case in his speech that the world is better off for his leadership.

“I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day,” Trump said.

In last year’s address at the U.N., Trump claimed the U.S. had “demolished” Iran’s nuclear capabilities after he ordered the June 2025 bombardment of three key facilities.

He returned to the General Assembly nearing the seven-month mark of a new war against Iran that he insists is necessary to address a nuclear threat posed by Iran.

The war has grown more complicated even though strikes by the United States and Israel have killed much of Iran’s top leadership and destroyed its air force and navy, while a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil has left Tehran in economic shambles.

The energy market continues to be spooked by the war and oil prices remain elevated. Saudi Arabia earlier this month shuttered a key pipeline that acted as a relief valve for oil blocked in the Gulf. The kingdom made the move after the pipeline came under attack by Iran-backed militants in Iraq.

At the same time, territorial grabs by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels, another Iranian-backed group, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait has now made it treacherous for oil carriers to use that Red Sea shipping lane.

Trump’s frustration with Russia-Ukraine war mounts

In his address, the president also touched on Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine — a conflict that during his 2024 campaign he predicted would be resolved on Day One of his second term. He once again expressed hope that the conflict will soon be resolved.

Trump hasn’t obscured that his patience is being tested by Ukraine’s targeting of Russia’s diesel refineries — an issue that’s added to the global oil markets’ volatility — and Russia’s targeting of Ukraine’s energy grid.

Trump last week asserted that he got the two sides to agree to not target each other’s energy infrastructure.

Zelensky had said he was willing to go along with Trump’s plan if Russia abided by it. Russia said it could only go along with Trump’s energy truce proposal if Western energy sanctions on Moscow were lifted first.

The two sides have continued carrying out strikes on refineries and other energy infrastructure.

Trump noted that last week he signed a new sanctions bill targeting Moscow. It empowers him to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas.

The legislation includes an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports. Trump, however, has yet to enact the stiff penalties.

“If necessary, I will have to use them,” Trump said. “It’s time to stop the killing.”

UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump has signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security, easing tensions over his repeated calls for Greenland to become part of the United States.

The signing Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York comes days after Trump announced the deal to bolster U.S. military presence on the vast, icy island but keep it under Danish control. The governments provided few details of the agreement before the signing.

“This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody,” Trump said just before the agreement was signed. “And for Greenland, it’s going to be incredible.”

For months, Trump has expressed his desire for Greenland to become part of the United States and issued threats to seize the semiautonomous territory from Denmark, a NATO ally. On Tuesday, he did not respond to questions about whether a U.S. acquisition of Greenland was off the table.

U.S. has had a presence in Greenland for many years

Officials from the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the mineral-rich island.

Trump’s designs on Greenland strained relations within NATO, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warning a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the Atlantic alliance.

The standoff unsettled many of Greenland’s roughly 56,000 people and drove a wedge between the U.S. and Denmark and its European Union partners, who stepped up security exercises on and monetary support for the island.

Trade and hopes for a resource grab have all factored into concerns about Greenland’s future: About two-thirds of its territory sits inside the Arctic Circle, where melting sea ice has opened additional shipping routes

The United States was prominent in Greenland for decades but, since 1945, the U.S. military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers on 17 bases and installations to roughly 200 soldiers on the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest. The base supports missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning, Trump provided a small window into details of the deal.

“We will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations,” he said, including “building two very major military bases.”

Denmark’s parliament approved a bill last year to allow U.S. military bases on Danish soil, widening a 2023 military agreement made with the Biden administration that gave U.S. troops broad access to air bases in Denmark.

Trump previously insisted the U.S. needed to “take Greenland,” to prevent Russia or China from doing the same. Though Trump said he would rather “make a deal” for the territory, he added: “one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

All parties present the agreement as a positive move

Mikkel Runge Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies, said Greenland and Denmark come away from the deal with the possibility of “ending the crisis without compromising on sovereignty,” while the U.S. gets a “somewhat more favorable” deal than under the existing defense treaty.

But relations overall between the U.S., Denmark, and Greenland “are likely to be haunted by this long after Trump leaves office, and the crisis is likely to have significant and lasting negative impact on trans-Atlantic relations more generally,” he said. “The lost trust will take decades to rebuild.”

Frederiksen said Tuesday that the deal being signed was a “deal that can last forever,” labeling it as good for the U.S., Greenland, Denmark, and the broader NATO alliance.

“Mr. President, you have been very clear: You don’t want adversaries to come too close,” she said. “I fully agree.”

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s prime minister, called it “a win-win-win agreement.”

“Your security is our security, and our security is your security,” he said Tuesday.

The Venezuelan man shot by an immigration officer in Austin over the weekend was taken to a hospital late Monday after experiencing paralysis on the left side of his body, his lawyer said.

Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch also has filed a lawsuit in Texas asking a federal court to order the immediate release of Wilber Garcés Pérez from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and halt his potential deportation to Venezuela. U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia scheduled an in-person hearing for Sept. 30 and ordered that Garcés be present, according to court records.

Garcés had been transferred from a local hospital to a federal detention facility four hours after he was shot by an ICE officer on Sunday, despite having a bullet still lodged in his back, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said doctors chose not to remove it because the bullet was too close to his spine but argued it was reckless to release him from the hospital that quickly.

Garcés, a 28-year-old delivery driver, told reporters on Monday by cell phone that he remained in pain and had spent the night sleeping on the floor in the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles southwest of Austin. His attorney said on social media that he was taken to another hospital late Monday after complaining of paralysis.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D., Texas) said Tuesday that Garcés had been discharged and returned to the Pearsall facility. Castro said he and another lawmaker plan to visit Garcés on Wednesday to demand his release.

“It is nothing more than a prison,” he said of the detention facility. “None of this should have ever happened.”

Department of Homeland Security officials have not responded to questions about the shooting or the claims from Garcés and Lincoln-Goldfinch about his medical care and the events that led to the shooting. Earlier Monday, DHS said Garcés was in stable condition and in federal custody “pending removal” from the country. The agency said he is subject to a final deportation order.

Garcés’s supporters are calling on DHS to release any video footage of the incident and are demanding an independent investigation.

Garcés worked as a DoorDash driver and was making a delivery Sunday when an unmarked black truck operated by ICE sideswiped his car, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. After he attempted to make a U-turn to find a place to pull over, the ICE vehicle struck his car again before an officer shot him, she said.

Lincoln-Goldfinch has said that Garcés is the main provider for his young family. He has a young son with a disability and is responsible for the costs of his treatments.

In the lawsuit seeking his release, Lincoln-Goldfinch and attorney Kristin Etter argued that Garcés should be allowed to apply for a U visa for crime victims because he is a “victim of a violent crime, namely, being shot by a federal officer.” Deporting him would violate his constitutional right to due process, the attorneys said.

Congress members and his attorneys have also expressed fear for Garcés’ health in the ICE detention facility, alleging he may need surgery and requires further evaluation.

Garcés alleges that an ICE officer shot him in the torso at 12:56 p.m. on Sunday, in an intersection in Austin, according to court records his attorneys filed on his behalf. Hours later, he was discharged to ICE custody, his attorneys wrote, “with the bullet still lodged in his body.”

He was then “forced to sleep on a cement floor” until around 4 a.m. Monday, when ICE transported him to the Pearsall facility, according to the records.

After he spoke to the media that day, ICE revoked Garcés’s communication privileges and moved him from the infirmary into “an isolated room with a flat, nonadjustable bed,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a statement.

Around 5 p.m. Monday, she said Garcés became unable to move his left arm and was taken back to the hospital. During the transfer, she said ICE handled him “roughly, despite his gunshot injury,” placing him in handcuffs and shackling his ankles.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about those claims.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said that the gunshot fractured Garcés’s clavicle and that he is suffering “significant swelling and pain,” and wearing a sling. At the hospital, she said, doctors gave him intravenous morphine for pain.

Garcés entered the country legally seeking asylum, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. An immigration judge issued him a final removal order after he missed a hearing. Lincoln-Goldfinch said officials sent a notice advising him of his upcoming court date to an old address.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that more than 100 Democratic lawmakers are calling on Homeland Security officials to cease any efforts to interfere with a comprehensive investigation into the shooting.

The lawmakers said in their letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE Director David Venturella they are deeply concerned ICE is attempting to swiftly deport Garcéss to impede an independent investigation.

“Mr. Garcés Perez is a key witness to this shooting, and given ICE’s history of obscuring the facts in similar investigations, he must not be removed,” the lawmakers wrote.

They said Garcés and the ICE agent who shot him must remain in Texas until a thorough investigation is complete.

The Democratic lawmakers called on DHS officials to respond by next Monday on why agents used deadly force, whether they followed policy requiring them to render medical aid, and whether ICE will release all bodycam footage.