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The 81st United Nations General Assembly opens in New York on Tuesday of this week. For the first time since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran commenced in February this year, President Donald Trump will be in Manhattan at the same time as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, going to the U.N. as the head of Tehran's delegation.
The State Department has imposed the most restrictive travel regulations ever put on the General Assembly delegation of a nation to ensure that the UNGA team of Iran, including the President, Foreign Minister and their many aides and assistants will be confined to a six-block radius of the UN, essentially under siege in New York City. Press aides to the Iranian President have been denied visas to enter the US to accompany their leader to New York. Retail stores in the area of UN headquarters of several major American retailers have been instructed by the White House not to accept financial transactions from Iranian officials participating in the General Assembly sessions. The White House calls these travel restrictions 'national security' measures.
The restrictions are a strong indication of where Trump currently stands on the issue, and that is open to talking to the Iranian President, but he is not ready to rule out a military option and is still in what he called "decision mode" on how to handle Iran. The President will address the General Assembly on Tuesday and Iran's President is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.
The military central command of Iran announced late last night that any fresh attack by the US would be met with sustained retaliation against US bases and interests across the world. It also warned any regional country that supports a fresh US aggression that it would be considered as a co-belligerent in such a conflict, Reuters/INVC reported. The Iranian government had received information about a fresh attack by the US, but did not provide any independent evidence to support this claim, the report added.
In the meantime, the Qataris are continuing to function as back-channel carriers for Iran's seven-point conditions for returning to talks which were first laid out by Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei for American intermediaries.
There's much on the President's New York schedule this week. He meets Monday with the Gulf Cooperation Council, followed by a bilateral with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday. He also meets with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In his Tuesday General Assembly address, Trump will "touch on the importance of ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon," said U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz. In total, some 130 heads of state are traveling to New York this week, hoping that the time will be productive for an agreement with Washington or a step back from the brink of war.
