US President Donald Trump holds a multilateral meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders, including Jordan's King Abdullah II, on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday (local time). [AFP]
US President Donald Trump holds a multilateral meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders, including Jordan's King Abdullah II, on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday (local time). [AFP]

US and Iranian delegations met Tuesday (local time) at UN headquarters in New York for about three hours of talks.

Donald Trump, responding to reporters' questions during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, said the talks with Iran "went really well. It ended about an hour ago. It was a three-hour meeting."

The US delegation is believed to have included Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Iranian side was led by President Masoud Pezeshkian, who addressed the General Assembly, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Both are considered pragmatists within Iran who have pursued negotiations with the United States, though dialogue between the two countries had stalled in recent months as both sides resumed a more confrontational posture.

Trump called it "a very good meeting" and said Iran faces two choices. "One is complete and total destruction, and the other is the potential to be great. Iran can be a great country," he said. He then added that "a very productive meeting" had taken place and that additional talks were scheduled "in a very short period of time."

Trump doubled down on the message that a deal would benefit Iran. "They had a very good meeting. We'll see what happens," he said. "But one thing is clear — it's in Iran's interest to make a deal."

Earlier, in his address to the General Assembly, Trump pressed Iran to choose between negotiations and destruction. He framed the choice as either reaching a deal that would allow Iran "to rebuild and make their country far greater than it has ever been before," or seeing Iran "annihilated quickly" so it would "never again have the opportunity to kill people and destroy countries." He urged Iran to choose negotiations.

Trump added that he believed a deal would be reached "right after the election."

Meanwhile, CNN, citing officials, reported that Trump had expressed a desire to meet with the Iranian side on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, provided "the conditions are right."

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