Trump at the U.N.: annihilate Iran, or a deal after the vote.

NEW YORK — President Trump took the General Assembly podium on Tuesday morning with a war he started in February and a 38-minute case for it. The Washington Post had the assignment: tout the wins as the Iran war overshadowed the diplomacy. He told the hall 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 with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” Iran’s delegation walked out. One member of Tehran’s mission sat and listened.

He called it settling years of unfinished business. Operation Epic Fury, he said, had put 159 Iranian ships on the bottom; the air force gone; inflation over 300 percent. Eighteen munition plants going up. “I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election.” He also said he would give the midterm “absolutely no credence.” He asked every nation to isolate Iran until the Strait is open and the nuclear file is dead. The necktie was red. Melania was in the hall. At the curb he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins she should not be covering him.

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

He named Mexico the epicenter of cartel violence and a two-thousand-mile border with territory he called enemy-controlled. Sheinbaum, he said, must recover the ground. A Greenland security paper with Denmark was for signature on the side. Zelenskyy sits with him at 1:15. Pezeshkian speaks Wednesday. Guterres had already told the same green hall that the cracks had become canyons. The Politics desk files Tuesday as it is: annihilate or a deal after the vote, a walkout, and a speech the Post said was meant to be a victory lap.