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United Nations, September 19
US President Donald Trump denounced the Iran nuclear deal as an “embarrassment” today, in the latest sign that he plans to tear up or renegotiate the landmark accord.
“Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the US, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it,” Trump told the UN General Assembly. “Believe me. It is time for the entire world to join us in demanding that Iran’s government end its pursuit of death and destruction.”
He called Iran an “economically depleted rogue state” that exports violence.
In his first appearance at the annual gathering of world leaders, the President used a 41-minute speech to take aim also at regional influence, Venezuela’s collapsing democracy and the threat of Islamist extremists. He also criticised the Cuban government.
He also told world leaders that it is time to “expose” and “hold responsible” those countries that provide funding and safe havens to terror groups, weeks after he warned Pakistan for supporting “agents of chaos”. He said all responsible nations must work together to confront terrorists and “the Islamic extremist that inspires them.”
“We will stop radical Islamic terrorism, because we cannot allow it to tear up our nation and, indeed, to tear up the entire world," he said. "It is time to expose and hold responsible" nations that provide funding and safe havens to terror groups, Trump said without naming any country.
“We must drive them out from our nations. It is time to expose and hold those responsible those countries who support and finance terror groups like Al-Qaida, Hezabollah and the Taliban and others,” he said.
Recalling his new strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia, Trump said it was aimed at defeating terrorists in war-torn Afghanistan. “From now onwards the security agencies will dictate the length and scope of military operations, not our betraying benchmarks and timetables set up by politicians,” he said. “I have also changed the rules of engagements of our fight against the Taliban and other terrorist groups,” he said.
‘America first'
The speech marked Trump's latest attempt to lay out his ‘America First’ vision for a US foreign policy aimed at downgrading global bureaucracies, basing alliances on shared interests, and steering Washington away from nation-building exercises abroad.
Trump, who entered the White House eight months ago, told the 193-member global body that the US does not seek to impose its will on other nations and will respect other countries' sovereignty.
“I will defend America's interests above all else,” he said. “But in fulfilling our obligations to other nations we also realise it's in everyone's interest to seek a future where all nations can be sovereign, prosperous and secure.” Reading carefully from a script, Trump said the US military would soon be the strongest it has ever been.
Shortly before Trump's speech, Guterres appealed from the General Assembly lectern for statesmanship to avoid war with North Korea. “We must not sleepwalk our way into war,” said Guterres. — Agencies