U.S. President Donald Trump has called on world leaders gathered at the U.N. General Assembly to "isolate Iran's regime as long as its aggression continues," accusing Iranian leaders of sowing "chaos, death and destruction."
"They do not respect their neighbors or their borders or the sovereign rights of nations. Instead, Iran's leaders plunder the nation's resources to enrich themselves and to spread mayhem across the Middle East and far beyond," Trump said a speech to the General Assembly Tuesday.
Trump maintained that the Obama-era 2015 nuclear deal to end Iran's nuclear weapons program, which he withdrew from, was a "windfall for Iran's leaders" and boosted its military budget by nearly 40-percent to "finance terrorism and fund havoc and slaughter in Syria and Yemen."
The president said his administration started last month "reimposing hard-hitting nuclear sanctions that have been lifted under the Iran deal" and that more sanctions would be imposed on November 5 and beyond.
"We cannot allow the world's leading sponsor of terrorism to possess the planet's most dangerous weapons. We cannot allow a regime that chants death to America and that threatens Israel with annihilation," Trump said.
Later, speaking to reporters while he sat alongside Colombian President Ivan Duque, Trump said: “I hope we can have the same trajectory” with Iran as the U.S. has had with North Korea.
"It was me who said no, not them,” on meeting with Iranian officials during the U.N. meeting. Trump added said such talks cannot occur until Tehran changes its behavior.
"Otherwise they’re going to be in the worst trouble of any country anywhere in the world,” said the U.S. president.
His national security advisor, John Bolton, issued an even tougher warning to Tehran in a New York speech Tuesday to U.S. advocacy group United Against a Nuclear Iran.
“If you cross us, our allies or our partners, if you harm our citizens, if you continue to lie, cheat and deceive — yes, there will indeed be hell to pay,” he said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the assembly that no country can be brought to the negotiating table by force. Rouhani also questioned how Iran can enter into an agreement with the U.S., which he said violates the policies of his predecessor, Barack Obama. In addition, Rouhani accused the Trump administration of trying to render all global institutions ineffectual.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump said on Twitter he rejected multiple requests to meet with Rouhani, an assertion Rouhani firmly denied.
"Not this year, nor last year," he said in a CNN interview. "We have never made such as request for a meeting with the President of the United States."