US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in his address to the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly that he has “a big decision to make” on Iran: whether to reach a deal that lets the country “rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before”, or to “annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again”.

He called on “all nations” to help enforce the “complete economic isolation of Iran” and said a deal is likely to come after the US midterm elections of 3 November 2026, according to The Guardian and Quartz. Trump said Iran is “waiting to see how I do in the midterm election” and dismissed the idea that the vote would shape his decision: “What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already, and won in a landslide.” He also said the United States has “more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using”, and defended the war on Iran as a way to keep Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.