Trump to tout deals, defend war with Iran in UN speech

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to claim he is winning both on the battlefield and as a peacemaker on Tuesday (September 22, 2026) in a speech to the United Nations overshadowed by growing spillover from his stalled war against Iran.

Mr. Trump will likely not hold back in renewing his frequent boasts that under him the United States is “the hottest country” in the world. He is also expected to seek to justify the Iran war, which has so far failed to fulfil White House objectives and provoked widespread economic damage over the Strait of Hormuz’s closure.

But the self-styled peacemaker could equally use the UN stage to tout his controversial efforts to end the Gaza conflict and his ongoing effort to bring more Arab countries into the Abraham Accords with Israel.

“No one knows what Trump is going to say, not even Trump’s speechwriters,” International Crisis Group’s Daniel Forti said. “This year, we expect more of a contrast between Trump, sort of both announcing and celebrating his record as a peacemaker versus defending his ongoing military operations around the world.”

Anti-UN speech at UN?

The keynote speech at the start of the UN General Assembly High-level week will provide Mr. Trump with a big platform to renew his frequent assaults on the global body.

Last year’s speech was characterised by Mr. Trump’s extraordinary accusations of UN sabotage when an escalator in the New York headquarters briefly stopped working and the teleprompter glitched.

Mr. Trump has regularly attacked the UN and its leader Antonio Guterres since returning to office, although Washington last week reportedly paid $725 million into its budget, avoiding the embarrassment of losing some of its voting rights.

He is also likely to meet skepticism over his claims of a historic win for the United States when a security deal is signed Tuesday for a U.S. presence in Greenland — a territory of Denmark that Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened, driving bitter divisions through longtime U.S.-led alliances.

As well as his closely watched speech to the General Assembly, Mr. Trump will hold side meetings with Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Japanese premier Sanae Takaichi and Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.

Ms. Rodriguez has governed under intense American pressure since her predecessor Nicolas Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in January.

Escalator gate

Last year, Mr. Trump’s speech to the gathering of world leaders veered into a rant about an escalator that stalled as he was using it, suggesting it was done deliberately.

He also railed against a defective teleprompter, falsely accused London’s mayor of imposing Islamic law and said Europe was in “serious trouble” over migration.

Mr. Trump clearly has not gotten over the incidents. “They turned off the escalator,” he said last week in the Oval Office.

“Fortunately, my first lady was very strong and I was able to grab her back or another part of her body. It was actually a little bit lower than the back,” he said.

The offending escalator “has been checked and rechecked,” Mr. Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday (September 21, 2026).

“New arrangements were made to facilitate the US delegation’s use of a teleprompter, they now have a separate booth, so we hope that will work without a hitch,” he added.

Trump says he was victim of ‘triple sabotage’ at UN and Secret Service is looking into the matter

AI and war

Mr. Guterres kicked off the week of speeches by warning of the “specter of ethnic cleansing” in Israel’s settlements expansion in the occupied West Bank.

He also called for U.S.-Chinese dialogue on the future of AI and singled out global energy companies for treating the atmosphere “as an open sewer.”

Next up — just before Mr. Trump — was Brazilian President Lula Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country by tradition is always first to speak at the annual gathering of leaders.

Mr. Trump, who has supported Mr. Lula’s opponents and other right-wing candidates across Latin America, may not like what he hears. Leftist Lula, running for reelection, said last week that he would tell Trump to not “meddle” in Brazil’s upcoming vote.