Last year it was North Korea, this year Iran may be in the US President’s crosshairs at the UN General Assembly. Both American President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will address the UN General Assembly today, but it’s unlikely that they’ll meet. Even so, they’re in the same building while a war of words between the two is escalating- this time last year, Trump stood at his very first UNGA podium and threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea.
It was a shock on many different levels- the threats made in a house of diplomacy, the talk of sovereignty in a house of cooperation. Trump’s first UNGA address will always be remembered for all the ways in which it was different. But back then, it was difficult to imagine that Trump would go from calling Kim Jong-un “little rocket man,” on the world stage to “very open and terrific” just this week as he spoke about a second summit meeting with the North Korean leader.
It’s Trump-style diplomacy that just goes to show that a leader can be his enemy one year, and his friend the next. But a similar outcome for the current US-Iran spat may be difficult. Rouhani himself refuted the idea in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt in the run-up to the UNGA.