Trump at the UN: “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon”
News Stories — Posted on September 22, 2026
The following is an 8 minute clip from President Trump’s 37 minute address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. See text below the video:
…And just as we moved quickly to address problems we inherited at home, we have acted with decisiveness and speed to reshape the world stage and solve problems that have plagued us for far too long. Every leader in this room—and your great leaders, many great leaders—I know all of you very well. But they know that given only a short time to make this world better, safer, and more prosperous for our children, for the people on earth, we have to take advantage of it.
As president of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day. I do not believe in letting problems fester. They only become harder to solve. So while others have talked, I have acted. While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace. While others have ignored threats, I have confronted them. While others have talked of courage, America has shown it. While others have promised strength, I have used it to make America the most powerful country in the world.
Working with many nations in this room, we are solving decades of intractable challenges and we are settling years of unfinished business and we’re doing it well. There is no better example of a danger that was allowed to gather strength at the world’s peril than the number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
For 51 years, the fanatical Iranian regime has ruled by bloodshed and mass murder, spreading death and carnage and chaos across the entire Middle East and beyond. They were the bully of the Middle East, but they are the bully no more.
From the first day I entered the political arena, I’ve been unwavering. I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Upon taking office last year, I immediately opened negotiations with Iran and offered them full economic cooperation in exchange for ending their nuclear program and support for terror. But they refused. They absolutely refused. That was a big mistake. Then in Operation Midnight Hammer, the U.S. military obliterated their nuclear program beneath mountains of rubble. And again, I urged Iran to make a deal. And again, they refused.
The regime 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. They also made a missile that was capable of hitting Europe and they were very proud of it. I hope the Europeans realize that Iran’s goal was to complete their mad dash to a nuclear bomb from behind this conventional ballistic missile shield. If they had succeeded, that wicked regime would have been free to spread terror and death forever, knowing that any attempt to stop them would face an arsenal of nuclear annihilation.
In America, we just marked the 250th anniversary of the worst terror attack in history, September 11th, which killed 3,000 people just a few miles from here. It’s an unbelievably terrible time. In two weeks, we will mark the third anniversary of the October 7th attack in Israel, where [Hamas] terrorists funded by Iran tortured, mutilated, and killed 1,200 very innocent civilians, including dozens of Americans and many babies. Babies, little tiny, beautiful babies. Iran’s Supreme Leader celebrated that massacre and called it a service to humanity.
The same regime slaughtered over 72,000 of its citizens this year. Recently, 10,000 were killed for protesting. Just imagine such a vile regime were ever empowered to carry out large-scale terror attacks from behind a nuclear shield. This was the reality we had to confront. A reality that far too many preferred to ignore. They all ignored it. Many presidents and many others just wanted to ignore it. They were unwilling to do anything about it. But they knew the problem.
After giving Iran every chance for a deal, I took action to ensure that neither the United States nor any nation at all would ever have to face such a nightmare, such a catastrophic problem. As a result of Operation Epic Fury, all 159 ships of their Navy are now lying at the bottom of the sea. Likewise, their air force is gone. Their radar is gone. Their anti-aircraft equipment is gone. Their missiles and drone manufacturing capacity is almost gone. Their economy is gone. The only thing that isn’t gone is inflation, which is destroying their country and is now well over 300%.
Yet, even after we agreed to a ceasefire 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. Thank you very much. That resolution, I’m pleased to say, received more co-sponsors from UN member nations than any Security Council resolution in history. That’s something.
Now we must be equally united in maintaining pressure. The United States Navy has recently escorted more than 1 billion barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz and more oil is flowing than at any point since the start of the war. We’re taking 22, 25, 30, 32, and 37 ships out respectively every single day, every single night.
But I have a big decision to make. 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. The Republican party is running and I’ll be helping them. But I am not running. I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran. It doesn’t even enter my mind. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
The above is approximately 8 minutes of President Trump’s 37 minute address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. To watch the full speech, go to: The White House’s @RapidResponse47 on X or on the White House’s youtube page.