After being laughed at, Trump to double down on Iran criticism as head of UN Security Council
- President Donald Trump will follow up a laughter-inducing UN General Assembly address with a much more serious session when he sits down as the president of the UN Security Council in a talk that promises fireworks.
- The US currently holds the rotating spot as Security Council president, so Trump will be front and center in setting global security policy on Wednesday.
- Trump is expected to keep up his attack on Iran, which he and his top officials have slammed in recent speeches.
President Donald Trump will follow up a laughter-inducing UN General Assembly address with a much more serious session on Wednesday when he sits down as the president of the UN Security Council in a talk that promises fireworks.
Trump's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, remarked that it "is going to be the most watched Security Council meeting ever."
On Tuesday, Trump's speech took a hard line on Iran that criticized the theocratic regime's behavior while expressing support for its people that live under strict Islamic law. Trump stopped just short of calling for regime change in Iran, but his top diplomat and security adviser gave more ominous messages.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called out European allies for working together to bypass US sanctions on Iran with a kind of bartering deal they're working on by saying Europe was "solidifying Iran's ranking as the number one state sponsor of terror."
National Security Adviser John Bolton directly addressed recent Iranian military threats, saying "there will be hell to pay" if Iran makes good on threats of military force against the US or its allies as sanctions on its oil exports draw near.
On Wednesday, Trump is expected to continue this line of attack against Iran, whose leaders he said "sow chaos, death, and destruction" as he simultaneously tweeted his willingness to meet with those same leaders.
Iran, neither a fixed nor temporary member of the Security Council, is not expected to attend the meeting.
Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, which six countries signed on to in 2015, in May 2018. Since then, the US has reimposed sanctions on Iran. Iran remains in the deal that forbid its nuclear weapons ambitions, but has refused further negotiations with the US.
On November 4, the US will impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports, which represent a huge chunk of its income.