Trump told the U.N. he might annihilate Iran. Then the meeting.

NEW YORK — President Trump took the General Assembly podium on Tuesday and told the hall he would annihilate Iran if its leaders do not make a deal. The Washington Post had the assignment: he came to tout the wins, and the war he launched in February overshadowed the diplomacy. He said he had a big decision. A deal that lets Iran rebuild — “maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world” — or annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly. “Do I drive them into hell?” Iran’s delegation walked out.

He said a deal would come right after the midterms. “They’re waiting to see how I do. What they don’t realize is that I’m not running.” He asked other nations to isolate Iran until the Strait is open. The necktie was red. Melania was in the hall. At the curb, arriving, he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins she should not be covering him.

Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly?

Then the afternoon. Trump told reporters U.S. officials sat three hours with Iran’s delegation. He called it a good meeting. Iranian state media said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Steve Witkoff, and that Tehran set conditions to reopen Hormuz: lift the naval blockade, release frozen assets, end the war on the “resistance” fronts. Zelenskyy was in the room when Trump said it. A Greenland security paper with Denmark was for signature on the side. The Politics desk files Tuesday as it is: a threat from the green marble, then a three-hour sit-down, and a war that still owns the diplomacy.