KEY POINTS
- Demands the release of all hostages in Gaza — dead or alive
- Stresses the need for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations
- Questions UN’s effectiveness in promoting peace
- Urges European countries to immediately stop buying oil from Russia
- Threatens Russia with a new round of tariffs if Putin refuses to negotiate peace
- Criticises Europe’s immigration policies, claiming countries are “going to hell”
- Announces plans to meet Brazilian President Lula da Silva next week
NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday strongly criticised the growing international recognition of a Palestinian state, warning that such moves “encourage continued conflict” and undermine efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region.
Addressing the 80th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York he said that recognition of a Palestinian state would be too great a reward for Hamas, repeating his call for the release of hostages, dead or alive.
He noted that those who call for peace in Gaza should align behind the demand and message of releasing hostages in Gaza. Trump has said that the conflict in Gaza needs to be stopped immediately.
“We have to get it done. We have to negotiate peace immediately. We have to get the hostages back, all 20 back,” he told the UNGA.
He added that the United States wants “38 dead bodies” back of hostages who died in Gaza.
Trump said that he has been making efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. “Have to get that done. Have to get it done,” he said at a UN General Assembly session.
However, he alleged that Hamas had “repeatedly” rejected reasonable offers for achieving peace.
UN fails in promoting peace
President Trump, in his remarks, questioned the effectiveness of the United Nations in promoting peace.
“The UN has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it — it has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to it,” Trump said in an address in which he complained about a broken escalator at the New York headquarters.
Europe must stop buying Russian oil
US President Donald Trump demanded on Tuesday that European allies immediately stop buying oil from Russia and accused China and India of funding the Ukraine war through their purchases.
“They have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia. Otherwise we’re all wasting a lot of time,” Trump said of Europe in an address at the UN General Assembly.
Trump threatened to hit Russia with “a very strong round of powerful tariffs” if Putin doesn’t come to the table to end its war in Ukraine.
Russia-Ukraine war should have been a skirmish
Trump says the Russia-Ukraine war should have been a ‘quick little skirmish,’ with Russia prevailing in a matter of days. Instead, it’s become a years-long war.
The president repeated his 2024 campaign talking point that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine never would have happened had he been president from 2021-2025. At the same time, Trump expressed surprise he hasn’t been able to negotiate a peace deal after insisting throughout the campaign that he’d end the war quickly, if not on “Day One.”
“I thought that would be the easiest because of my relationship with President Putin, which had always been a good one,” Trump mused.
Enforcing biological weapons convention
During his address, Trump pledged that his administration would lead an international effort to enforce a biological weapons convention by pioneering an AI verification system.
“I’m … calling on every nation to join us in ending the development of biological weapons once and for all,” he said.
Trump said that Iran can never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
President Trump Delivers Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly https://t.co/9OW7c5Wtj4
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 23, 2025
European countries ‘going to hell’
US President Donald Trump said that European countries were going to “hell” because of immigration as he touted his own hardline crackdown.
“It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders,” Trump said at the General Assembly.
“Your countries are going to hell,” he said.
Trump to meet Lula next week
President Donald Trump said that he would meet with Brazil’s president next week, even after fiercely criticizing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for the prosecution of his predecessor over a coup plot.
“I was walking in, and the leader of Brazil was walking out…. We actually agreed that we would meet next week,” said Trump, who has imposed steep tariffs on Brazil and sanctions on officials in retaliation for the jailing of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro.
US bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites
Trump said that after he returned to office, he sent Iran’s supreme leader a letter pledging “full cooperation” in exchange for Iran suspending its nuclear programme.
“The regime’s answer was to continue their constant threats to their neighbors and US interests throughout the region, and some great countries that are right nearby,” he said in the speech.
The president declared that many of Iran’s former military commanders “are no longer with us” as a result.
