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World leaders descended on New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly, where the agenda spans the U.S.-Iran war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine to the fragile ceasefire in Gaza and the risks posed by artificial intelligence. Nearly 130 heads of state and government started taking the podium on Tuesday, including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani are also attending. Motorcades, road closures and security details for visiting leaders have choked midtown Manhattan. Inside UN headquarters, delegates face a week of back-to-back speeches and sideline meetings. Chinese leader Xi Jinping will skip the assembly but head to Washington for a high-level summit with Trump on Wednesday. Leaders from India and Russia are also staying away. Trump on Tuesday told world leaders at the assembly that he faces a "big decision": make a deal with Iran or "annihilate" the Islamic Republic. He later told reporters that U.S. officials held a "very good" three-hour meeting with Iranian envoys on the sidelines, reviving fragile hopes for a diplomatic off-ramp to the seven-month war. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung set out a three-part plan for "peaceful coexistence" with North Korea. It calls on Pyongyang to "first halt the advancement" of its nuclear program before reducing it. Brazil's Lula spoke first, as his country traditionally does. "Brazilian democracy belongs to Brazilians," Lula said. "Brazil is nobody's backyard." He said the UN "is failing in one of its highest missions: to save humanity from the scourge of war." Trump also signed a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland that expands U.S. military access in the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. Trump then met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for about 40 minutes. He pressed for a Russia-Ukraine energy truce and backed a ban on U.S. diesel exports as fuel prices hit records before the midterms. French President Emmanuel Macron gave his own UN address. "There can be no peace without justice," he said. After meeting Trump, he pledged to push for a moratorium on strikes on Ukraine's energy grid. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Gaza "the most inhumane, most shameful concentration camp of our time," prompting Israel's delegation to walk out. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, will address the assembly by video after being denied a U.S. visa.
document fetched 2026-09-23 02:59 · canonical https://cnbc.com/2026/09/23/unga-trump-iran-china-greenland-ukraine-russia-.html