Trump warns of ‘rogue nation’ threat in speech to UN
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionTrump: ‘Rocket Man’s suicide mission’
US President Donald Trump has warned of the threat from “rogue nations” in a speech to the UN General Assembly, singling out North Korea and Iran.
In his debut speech to the body in New York, he warned America would destroy North Korea if it was forced to defend itself or its allies.
He mocked North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, saying: “Rocket man is on a suicide mission.”
North Korea has tested nuclear bombs and missiles in defiance of the UN.
Iran, Mr Trump said, was a “corrupt dictatorship” intent on destabilising the Middle East.
He called on the government in Tehran to cease supporting terrorism and again criticised the Obama-era deal over Iran’s nuclear programme, which he called an embarrassment.
Skip Twitter post by @awzurcher
His line about some nations going to hell was particularly moving. https://t.co/OWggliaHWU
— Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) September 19, 2017 Report
End of Twitter post by @awzurcher
In other parts of his speech he:
- said the US could “no longer be taken advantage of or enter one-sided deals”
- stressed the importance of “strong sovereign nations” to the maintenance of international order
- said some nations were “going to Hell” but the UN could help them
- said the crisis in Venezuela, which is led by a leftwing government hostile to the US, was “unacceptable” and the America could not “stand by and watch”
- denounced socialism as an ideology, saying it had only brought “anguish and devastation and failure”
