Trump Threatens to Annihilate Iran if It Doesn’t Capitulate, Agree to U.S. Terms

President Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly today sounded more like a State of the Union address or an oration at a rally and less like a message to the world. It included the customary Trumpian braggadocio.

But he also used the forum to threaten war crimes against Iran once again. Iran had a choice, he said. Either capitulate or be “annihilated.”

This is at least the third time Trump has vowed to erase the country, which would mean millions of civilian deaths that in turn would be classified as a war crime.

Golden Age

Trump opened his talk with a big brag about his accomplishments, which is typical of the 47th president.

“Two and a half centuries after the cause of liberty found its home on this continent, I can report to you with pride that America is back and our country is stronger today than ever before,” Trump crowed:

Our economy is the envy of the world. Our military is the most powerful on earth. Our technology is second to none and we are leading in virtually everything. Our energy is fueling the planet. America is rising.

Our nation is growing. Our power is expanding. Our country is doing better than ever before, and our future is very, very bright. Since I took office, we have created more than 1 million new private-sector jobs, and more Americans are working today by far than ever before.

Last week, it was announced that the poverty rate has reached its lowest level in American history. We lifted 1.5 million Americans out of poverty last year alone. Another record, the African American and Hispanic American poverty rates are at all-time lows. Real household incomes for Americans have soared to the highest level in history, 87,000 on average, surpassing the prior record that I set in my first term.

After a few more minutes touting his greatness as a president, Trump said that “we inherited a dark Age of America from the previous administration, and we turned it into the golden age of America.” Such is the heretofore unknown greatness of that Golden Age that “the entire world is being lifted by the wealth, strength, spirit, and momentum of a newly energized and a very powerful United States of America.” 

Iran Must Obey or Else

Part of that Golden Age is paying an average of $4.48 for regular gas and even more for diesel and premium, but in any event Trump again said he would vaporize Iran.

Claiming that he made America “the most powerful country in the world,” Trump said the “fanatical Iranian regime has ruled by bloodshed and mass murder, spreading death and carnage and chaos across the entire Middle East and beyond” for 51 years.

“They were the bully of the Middle East, but they are the bully no more,” he claimed:

From the first day I entered the political arena, I’ve been unwavering. I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

Trump claimed that Operation Midnight Hammer destroyed the country’s nuclear capability. But Iran “continued building a vast missile and drone stockpile that threatened the security of every American service member in the region and everyone else in the region.”

Trump said Iran built missiles that could strike Europe. 

Speaking of the October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel, Trump said “Iran’s supreme leader celebrated that massacre and called it a service to humanity” and that the regime had murdered 82,000 of its people.

“Just imagine if such a vile regime were ever empowered to carry out large scale terror attacks from behind a nuclear shield,” he said:

This was the reality we had to confront, a reality that far too many preferred to ignore.

Trump claimed that all of Iran’s Navy lies “at the bottom of the sea” that its air force and radar and anti-aircraft weapons are gone. “Their missiles and drone manufacturing capacity is almost gone,” as is “their economy,” he continued:

The only thing that isn’t gone is inflation, which is destroying their country and is now well over 300 percent.

Yet even after we agreed to a cease fire for nuclear discussions, Iran promptly violated it with brazen acts of terrorism against civilian ships from other countries.

I want to thank the UN Security Council for voting overwhelmingly to pass a resolution condemning Iran’s despicable terrorist attacks on commercial shipping.

Trump said the U.S. Navy has escorted 1 billion barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. “More oil is flowing than at any point since the start of the war,” he said.

“But I have a big decision to make,” he continued:

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? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?

But I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election, because it doesn’t make sense for them not to.

They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already and won in a landslide. We won in a giant landslide, and I’ll be here for two and a half years.

Previous Threats

The world has heard that eliminationist rhetoric at least twice before.

On April 7, Trump threatened to destroy the entire country and everything in it.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he said.

“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

Before that, on Easter Sunday, he threatened to starve the Iranian people to death and deprive them of electricity and water.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” he wrote on Truth Social:

There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F****n’ Strait, you crazy b****rds, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.

Former supporters unsparingly attacked Trump for the reckless threats.