Iranian president arrives in New York as Trump weighs cutting a deal or driving Iran "into hell"

Follow updates on the war in the Middle East for Wednesday, Sept. 23, here. See earlier developments below.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed on Tuesday to "firmly defend" his country's positions as he departed for New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

"We emerged with our heads held high, and this is a source of dignity and pride for all of us. Therefore, we will firmly defend our positions in international forums," he said before flying out of Iran, according to footage broadcast by state television.

The president is due to speak at the U.N. meeting on Wednesday.

"We will make the best possible use of this opportunity to convey Iran's plight to the international community. We will firmly tell our adversaries that, despite all the unfairness and injustices, the Iranian people have stood their ground," he said.

Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to set foot on American soil since the start of the Middle East war, which began in late February.

The United States has approved the U.N. visits for part of the Iranian delegation despite the war, but the group will be subject to movement restrictions, according to the State Department.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New York where he is expected to speak at the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian state media reported late Tuesday night.

State broadcaster IRIB posted a video clip of Pezeshkian exiting a plane with a caption saying that the Iranian president has arrived at a New York airport.

This is the first time that a leader whose country is at war with the U.S. has set foot on American soil to address a U.N. gathering, analysts say.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said American and Iranian negotiators "engaged in lengthy talks" on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

In a post on X late Tuesday, Witkoff said the two sides spoke through mediators over the course of the day. He did not describe the substance of the talks, but said they "successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising."

President Trump told reporters earlier Tuesday that Witkoff and U.S. envoy Jared Kushner had a "very good meeting," and the two sides "have another one scheduled in the very near future."

President Trump joined a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where the president said there's a "lot of momentum" for Iran to make a deal. Countries represented in the meeting included Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

"I like these people," the president said of the leaders around him.

The president said Iran's economy is in bad shape, and he hopes they do something good for their people.

"I don't think about the election at all when I think about ending the nuclear threat from Iran. I just think about ending the nuclear threat from Iran," he said.

Flights from Iran to the capitals of Iraq and Oman will be canceled as of midnight, local media reported Tuesday, hours before expanded U.S. sanctions were due to come into force.

The Tasnim news agency cited a civil aviation spokesman as saying, "Baghdad and Muscat airports will no longer accept Iranian flights."

"Other international flights, including Istanbul, will operate as scheduled and as usual, and at present there are no problems with these flights," Tasnim reported.

According to Tasnim, Iran's aviation authorities are in talks to reroute Baghdad flights to Najaf, a major destination for Iranian pilgrims.

Negotiations with Oman were also ongoing, the semi-official agency ISNA said.

In Iraq, the government has not yet announced plans to enforce the ban, but several sources, including a senior government official, told AFP that Baghdad would comply.

Earlier this month the U.S. blacklisted the Iranian aviation sector and threatened sanctions against any foreign organisation working with Iran's airlines.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that Iranian airlines would face difficulties operating as of Wednesday under the weight of American sanctions.

"All the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world," Bessent told CNBC in an interview.

Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, held a meeting at the U.N. with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday, saying she echoed many of the consistent concerns of the rest of the world: free transit of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb Strait and a cessation of all hostilities.

"We addressed diplomatic prospects for ending the US-Iran war and fully re-opening the Strait of Hormuz. There were no tolls or fees for passage before the war, and there should be none after the war," she said on social media, accompanied by a picture of the two leaders. "Navigation must be free and unimpeded, both in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab Strait."

Iranian leaders have repeatedly said the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will not return to its prewar conditions. In fact, Iran's parliament security committee approved new rules Tuesday fining ships 20% of their cargo's value for transiting the strait without authorization, according to the IRGC-allied Fars News Agency.

Apart from the war, Kallas also said she brought human rights concerns by the Iranian government, including a "sharp rise in executions and death sentences."

Araghchi, meanwhile, criticized Europe for falling in line with U.S. aggression.

"America's repeated breach of agreements has been the sole factor disrupting diplomatic processes, and the European Union, regrettably, has also chosen the path of appeasement in the face of U.S. bullying," Araghchi told Fars News Agency after the meeting with Kallas.

President Trump said U.S. and Iranian officials met on Tuesday, shortly after threatening in his address to the U.N. General Assembly that he may "annihilate" the Islamic Republic if a deal isn't reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Mr. Trump told reporters the meeting happened, and ended "about an hour ago," but offered few details about the talks.

"It was a very good meeting," Mr. Trump said. "They have another one scheduled in the very near future."

The meeting lasted about three hours, Mr. Trump said, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff were part of it.

Witkoff echoed that the meeting went well, saying "I feel very good right now," but provided no further details.

The U.S. and Iran have held talks Tuesday while both countries are at the U.N. for this week's General Assembly, President Trump said. He also said he believes the U.S. will come to an agreement with Iran, though he did not specify when.

"I think that a settlement is going to be reached," Mr. Trump said during a bilateral meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham. "They want to talk to us. They have been talking to us. Even today, they've been talking to us, and the relationship is developing, let's say."

Mr. Trump was not more specific about what he meant by the "relationship is developing," or put a timeframe on when the agreement would come. Earlier in the day, however, he expected the deal to come after the midterm elections.

The president also seemed to say Iran has agreed they will not pursue a nuclear weapon.

"They understand that we can't let them have a nuclear weapon, and there's a price to pay for that," Mr. Trump said.

The Iranian delegation is expected in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, though it's not yet clear whether Mr. Trump will meet with either their president or foreign minister.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for "a world built on interdependence" as he made his final address Tuesday to a yearly gathering of world leaders convening to face a formidable menu of challenges — from climate change and war to inequality and artificial intelligence.

The U.N. leader has long implored leaders not to give up on cooperation and shared decision-making in the face of accelerating global challenges and increasing great-powers competition.

Guterres also rebuked might-makes-right thinking, telling superpowers to recognize "that their power isn't so super." Recent years have made it clear that "military power alone cannot secure peace," he said.

Yet, about an hour after Guterres spoke, President Trump offered a different and equally frank view of power.

"While others have promised strength, I have used it to make America the most powerful country in the world," Trump said, touting his country's economic, technological and military footprint.

The U.K. is the latest country to come to Saudi Arabia's assistance in the country's fight against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.

Air-to-air refueling aircraft will be provided by the U.K. "in support of the legitimate government of Yemen," according to the ministry of defense.

The Houthis have a longstanding feud with Saudi Arabia that was reignited in recent months following a four-year truce. The Houthis announced they would begin targeting Saudi-flagged oil tankers transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait out of the Red Sea in solidarity with Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Those widening strikes were followed by a military blitz last week, capturing new ground from government forces in western Yemen and taking control of the key coastal city of Mokha. The Houthis have also increasingly targeted energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia and Yemen are long-standing partners of the United Kingdom and play a vital role in regional stability," the ministry said in a statement. "It is in the UK's interest to protect regional stability, protecting vital trade and energy supplies and encouraging a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Yemen."

The U.K. has already provided missile-defense systems for the Saudis, largely to prevent Iranian strikes, while the U.S. is a major backer of the Saudis. Also, Pakistan and Turkey recently signed a defense pact with Saudi Arabia that could lead to their involvement in the war.

Stock markets advanced Tuesday as oil prices fell further on speculation the United States and Iran could make progress on talks to end the Mideast war this week, with enthusiasm about Meta's new AI agent fanning a tech rally.

The Brent international crude benchmark was back below $100 a barrel, with investors eyeing a potential meeting between President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Hopes that Saudi Arabia will quickly resume flows through its East-West pipeline added to the downward pressure.

That added to the positive mood from a renewed burst of confidence in artificial intelligence, which pushed technology stocks higher in Asia.

Wall Street indices opened higher after the Nasdaq hit an all-time closing high Monday, and stocks were broadly higher in Europe after rising in Asia.

Enthusiasm poured back into the technology sector after Facebook owner Meta's free AI agent Muse topped the download charts following its release this month.

"If there is widespread adoption of Muse, it could add to demand for other AI tools, which could lift the AI sector, after a rough few months," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.

Meta said Muse, which can book travel, send emails and make purchases, was built for people with no technical background and is designed to work the way people already message each other.

President Trump told the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday that he had to choose whether to "annihilate" Iran if it fails to make a deal to end the Iran war.

"I have a big decision to make – will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world?" Mr. Trump said.

"Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?" he said. "Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?"

The president also reiterated that he believes an agreement is possible before U.S. midterm elections in November, in which his Republican Party faces losing control of Congress at least partly due to high fuel prices caused by the war.

"I believe we'll make a deal right after the election because it doesn't make sense for them not to," he said.

"They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don't realize is that I'm not running. I did that already, and won in a landslide," he said.

Mr. Trump said Sunday he would "probably" meet on the sidelines of the U.N. summit with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is attending along with the country's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed the deteriorating situation in Yemen and the wider Persian Gulf during a phone call on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin.

Putin stressed the need for political and diplomatic efforts to normalize the regional crisis, while both sides called for an early end to fighting in Yemen and the launch of constructive intra-Yemeni dialogue under United Nations supervision.

The Saudi-backed government of Yemen has since 2014 been locked in a civil war with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. A fragile ceasefire that had held since 2022 was broken this summer as the war in Iran engulfed the region.

The two leaders also discussed the importance of safe and unhindered shipping through regional waterways, including the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's national airline Iran Air on Tuesday said it had not been informed of any ban on services to neighboring countries, a day before the U.S. is due to tighten sanctions against the Iranian aviation sector.

"Iran Air has not received any notification or official instruction from the civil aviation authorities of Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, or Iraq regarding a halt or suspension of the airline's flights to Istanbul, Baku, and Najaf," the company said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that as of Wednesday, "all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world."

"If they land, you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system," Bessent warned.

An attack by Saudi Arabia on a prison in northwest Yemen killed nine detainees, a Houthi official told the Saba news agency, which is affiliated with the Iran-backed rebel group, on Tuesday.

"Nine prisoners captured during recent events were killed last night when the Saudi enemy targeted a prison" in Al-Hazm, in Yemen's Al-Jawf governorate, Houthi official Abdelkader al-Murtada told the agency.

The conflict between the Iranian backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has escalated significantly in recent weeks, with the Houthis seizing strategic territory along the Red Sea coast, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

President Trump had considered bombing Houthi positions in Yemen over the weekend, but decided against it late Saturday night, sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News on Monday.

China's government said Tuesday it opposed "illegal" U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines, a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened potential measures in a televised interview.

"China consistently opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law or authorisation from the U.N. Security Council," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said during a news conference.

The remark came ahead of a highly-anticipated meeting between President Trump and China's President Xi Jinping in Washington this Thursday.

The U.S. is open to meeting with Iranian officials at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday.

"We're open to that," he said. "I don't ⁠think anything is scheduled at this point, but we're certainly open to something like that, especially if ⁠it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately ‌achieving the goal of what this is all about."

President Trump told Fox News Sunday he would "probably" be willing to meet Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the summit. Pezeshkian will attend the annual General Assembly along with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Both men have said they will defend Iran's positions on the war during the summit.

"The U.S. needs to announce that it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically, make that official, and then agree on a timeline for how the process will move forward," a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, corroborating a Japanese news agency's report that Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the U.S. steps back from military threats and ‌lifts its blockade of Iranian ports and vessels.

The official told Reuters that Iran's delegation to the U.N. General Assembly, lead by ⁠President Masoud Pezeshkian, had been given authority by the Islamic Republic's supreme leader to revive diplomacy with the U‌.S., but they ruled out a meeting between Mr. Trump and his Iranian counterpart at U.N. headquarters in New York.