Trump Threatened Iran — Then Said They Talked. What Happened?
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to "annihilate" Iran in his speech opening the U.N. General Assembly on September 22, 2026. Then he said U.S. officials had just held a three-hour meeting with Iran that he called "very good."
In the speech, Trump asked whether to let Iran rebuild or to "annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly." He warned he could annihilate Iran if there is no deal to end the fighting. He spoke about nearly seven months of U.S. military strikes on Iran. Iran's team walked out soon after that part started, leaving one person seated. Al Jazeera
Hours later, Trump said his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Iranian officials for about three hours at the U.N. The threat was public. The private talks went ahead anyway.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi joined the talks. Go-betweens carried messages between the two sides. It is thought to be the first face-to-face U.S.-Iran talk since Vice President JD Vance met senior Iranian officials in Switzerland in June. Witkoff said the talks were finished and he hoped they would be "constructive and promising." Trump said another meeting should happen "in the very near future" and there was movement toward a deal.
The two sides want very different things. Tehran wants the U.S. to lift economic sanctions, which are punishments that block trade and money, and to lift the U.S. naval blockade, which is U.S. ships blocking Iran's ports. Washington wants free passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran's nuclear programme. Think of the Strait like a narrow doorway that oil tankers must pass through. A June memorandum of understanding, a basic written agreement, ended last month during nearly seven months of U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Al Jazeera
Iran's military rejected the "annihilate" threat. Its Armed Forces General Staff warned Iran is ready to hit the U.S. and Israel with strikes that would be "more crushing and less predictable" than before. Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned U.S. armed attacks. Iranian officials also claimed they made strong defensive strikes on U.S. military bases in answer.
This follows months of escalation. On March 1, 2026, the White House said Trump started Operation Epic Fury to crush Iran's government and end the nuclear threat. In April 2026, the White House said his goals included destroying Iran's missiles and factories and destroying its navy. That came after the U.S. described precision strikes on Iran's main nuclear sites in June 2025 as highly successful and decisive. Reuters
The Strait is at the heart of the threats. Trump warned on Truth Social that if Iran stops oil in the Strait, the U.S. will hit Iran twenty times harder. In another post he gave Iran 48 hours to fully open the Strait without threat. He also claimed Iran apologized to its Middle East neighbors and promised not to shoot at them, offered blessings to the people of Iran after 47 years of extortion, corruption and death, and said the U.S. is in serious talks with a new, more reasonable regime to end military action.
Politics in Washington affect the timing. In an Axios interview published September 17, 2026, Trump said he was near a critical choice about restarting large attacks. Three U.S. officials told Reuters that a new wave of strikes could act as "shaping operations," early strikes that give Trump more choices. Reuters also reported that Trump aides, worried about losing the midterms, wanted to keep the Iran war quiet for now, with heavier attacks possible after the November elections. At the U.N., Trump held fast meetings on both the Iran and Ukraine wars.
The broader context here is a familiar Trump pattern of very tough talk plus direct talks through envoys, but now during an active war. The threat creates pressure. The Witkoff-Kushner-Araghchi meeting lets each side test ideas on sanctions, the blockade, Hormuz passage and nuclear limits without a formal return to talks that Tehran denied as recently as March.
Looking at what this means for diplomats and risk managers, the near-term question is whether the next meeting creates a plan to replace the June agreement that lapsed. A small deal on Hormuz for the blockade could calm the oil route while leaving the nuclear issue for later. If it fails, both warnings stay live, the U.S. warning to annihilate if there is no deal and Iran's promise of less predictable revenge, with both militaries watching the period after the November U.S. vote.
