Trump Snaps at CNN's Kaitlan Collins Ahead of UNGA Speech Amid Media Ban - Newsweek

President Donald Trump gave his highly anticipated U.N. General Assembly speech Tuesday morning in front of a standing room only crowd.

However, as Trump spoke about the last six months of Iran military strikes, that country's U.N. delegates walked out of the assembly.

Trump told the gathering of world leaders in New York City that he had a "big decision" coming up on Iran.

“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” Trump asked.

“Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?” The president continued: “Do I drive them into hell?”

Trump said he believes Tehran will “make a deal right after the [midterm] election” in November.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are in New York for the annual meeting but didn’t attend Trump’s speech. However, their staff and delegates watched the beginning of Trump's speech then exited the General Assembly 10 minutes into his remarks. Only one Iranian delegate remained in the hall to listen to the U.S. president.

As Trump spoke about Iran, the camera panned to the lone remaining delegate from Iran, who glared stone-faced at the president.

Newsweek reached out to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email on Tuesday morning for comment.

Trump also said in his speech that he's not concerned about the war in Iran hurting Republicans in the midterm elections.

The election “doesn’t even enter my mind” when it comes to Iran, he said.

A new NBC News poll found widespread skepticism toward the conflict, with 62 percent of voters saying the war has not been worth it and 57 percent saying they would be less likely to support candidates who back it. The findings arrive amid growing Republican unease over the war's political costs, particularly in competitive midterm races.

Diesel has risen to a record $6.50 amid ongoing supply constraints from the Iran war and other global pressures, exposing a significant political vulnerability for the GOP.

Still, Trump said he’s not concerned with politics.

“They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election,” Trump said of Iran. “What they don’t realize is that I’m not running. I did that already, and won in a landslide … and I’ll be here for two-and-a-half years.”

The president also denied the U.S. military is running low on advanced weapons amid strikes on Iran.

“We have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using, and we’re building them at levels that we have never done before,” Trump said.

Some experts say stockpiles of Tomahawk cruise missiles, along with Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors, will take years to replenish.

"The United States has burned through Patriot, THAAD missile interceptors, and long-range strike missiles at an extraordinary rate," Kelly Grieco, senior fellow with the Stimson Center's Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy Program, told Newsweek in July. "In the near term, this is a force-protection issue."

"Interceptors are what stand between Iranian missiles and American forces at bases across the Gulf," Grieco said. "This is the immediate risk, and it gets worse the longer this runs."

President Trump lashed out at CNN's Kaitlan Collins before his address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York amid the White House ban to deny CNN, MS NOW and Politico access.

Those three news outlets are suing the president for violating the First Amendment.

Collins asked Trump as he entered the U.N. building, "Two thirds of Americans don't think the U.S. is winning the war with Iran. When will it end?"

Arriving with First Lady Melania Trump, Trump brushed aside the question and told Collins: "You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me. You shouldn't be covering me."

After Trump's comments, Collins said on CNN that the network "never said we were not going to cover the president" and vowed that CNN would continue reporting on him despite the White House's efforts to restrict its access. She noted that the network was covering the president from the United Nations under U.N. credentials while the legal fight over White House access continues.

This is a breaking news article. Updates to follow.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.