Almost 130 heads of state and government arrived in New York yesterday for the annual 81st session of the UN General Assembly, and some of them took to the rostrum on the first day, opening the high-level political debate.
The debate began yesterday, 22 September, and runs until Saturday, 26 September, before resuming on Monday, 28 September, as no sessions are held on Sundays.
The theme of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly is “Reinforcing trust, managing transformations: United Nations delivering for all”, as stated in the UN background note on the organisation of the high-level week.
Many speeches are also expected to focus on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, artificial intelligence and the UN’s financial difficulties, while diplomats monitor the race to succeed António Guterres, whose term ends on 31 December.
Trump boasts and threatens, Cubans walk out
The main “star” of yesterday’s debate was US President Donald Trump, who, true to form, threatened once again to “wipe out” the Islamic Republic of Iran if Tehran does not agree to a deal. A member of the Iranian delegation listened to him from the hall.
Trump rejected a “global government”, promised to mediate in bringing about peace between Russia and Ukraine, and vowed to ensure the US wins the race in developing artificial intelligence.
His comments came on the same day that numerous diplomatic talks were held, including between US and Iranian representatives. He began his speech at the UN General Assembly by praising his own achievements in the economy, immigration and the fight against violent crime. For much of his speech, he justified the war with Iran – which has led to a spike in global oil prices while lowering his ratings since the US and Israel launched airstrikes in February.
Trump’s tone contrasted with earlier remarks by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who warned that global divisions are deepening and underscored the “interdependence” of the world’s peoples.
The US president claimed that the conflict had prevented Tehran from building nuclear weapons and demonstrated the value of what he described as peace through strength – ultimatums rather than deals or compromises.
“Will there be a deal with Iran that will allow them to rebuild and create a far greater country than it has ever been before?” he said. “Or should I destroy the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries ever again? Should I send them to hell?” he said.
Trump criticised international institutions, accusing the UN of an “extreme left-wing agenda of globalist bureaucrats whom nobody ever elected”.
Instead, the US president emphasised national sovereignty and “unrivalled” US military might.
“There is no global government,” he said.
He also warned that the US will not allow threats to take root anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. “If necessary, we will use our incomparable military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States,” he said.
Trump accused the Cuban communist government of nurturing ties with left-wing groups in the US, including the Communist Party USA, the Antifa movement and the Democratic Socialists of America. While Trump was accusing Cuba, the country’s delegation walked out of the hall, and the US president looked in their direction and called the Caribbean island a “failed state”.
Following his speech, Trump met on the sidelines of the General Assembly with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen to sign a new security agreement. The agreement, announced last week, came after Trump repeatedly threatened to “take over” Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark, by military force if necessary. Trump said on Tuesday that the US would immediately begin the process of expanding its military presence in Greenland, including “the construction of two very large military bases”, AP reported.
Under the agreement, Greenland remains a territory of Denmark.
Trump also held talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly with the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez.
Trump’s meeting with Rodríguez at a reception on Tuesday evening was their first encounter since Trump ordered an operation in January aimed at capturing Maduro and transferring him to New York to face federal narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking charges. Maduro’s lawyers have challenged the US military action that removed him from power.
Guterres’s farewell speech
Earlier, António Guterres delivered a farewell speech as UN Secretary-General, calling on superpowers to recognise that “their power is not so super”.
He did not specify which superpowers he was referring to.
“The lines of division in the world are widening,” Guterres said, citing geopolitical rivalries, wars, climate change and artificial intelligence.
He warned of the potential risks of the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), telling reporters that the need for enhanced AI oversight will be a key topic in his discussions with heads of state and government during the UN General Assembly session starting next week in New York.
“We cannot afford to ignore concerns, particularly from people at the forefront of AI development,” he said, adding that every government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens from everything, including “threats associated with artificial intelligence”.
British Prime Minister makes his debut
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the UN General Assembly that his country will lead international efforts to develop global standards for artificial intelligence (AI).
In his maiden address to the UN, Burnham, who took office in July, expressed support for AI, saying it “brings together many of the most urgent issues we face”. The Prime Minister highlighted AI’s potential to transform healthcare and education, as well as serve as a “driver of economic growth”, while acknowledging growing security risks.
He also announced a new AI defence partnership with the US aimed at “protecting our critical national infrastructure”.
“We know that AI will also be a source of disruption in how we live and work, and a risk multiplier,” Burnham continued. “We have all heard the warnings, which we must heed. I know how anxious people are, which is why we must rise to this moment,” CNN reported.
Fundamental decisions about technologies like AI are “too important to be left to chance”, Burnham said. He stated that these decisions should be made by elected governments “that serve working people”, adding that people must be given the support they need through this transition.
Macron’s final address
French President Emmanuel Macron used his final address to the UN General Assembly as leader of France to call on countries around the world to stand with the United Nations in the face of a resurgence of the “law of the jungle”, France24 reports.
Macron also called for a moratorium on attacks against civilian and energy infrastructure in the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as the development of an “open-source” model for the most advanced artificial intelligence, independent of China and the US.
He urged countries to recommit to upholding international law and the United Nations system in the face of the resurgent “law of the jungle”.
Macron, delivering his final speech at the annual UN diplomatic gathering as French President, also sharply criticised the humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for a moratorium on civilian and energy targets in the war between Ukraine and Russia.
“The question put to us, very simply, is whether we want to live in a state of nature, with a sort of return to the law of the jungle, or in a civilised international society,” he said.
“My message is to stand firm. Do not yield to the unfolding situation… The rhetoric of defeat is giving way to the abuse of imperial power, which threatens the sovereignty of individual states,” Macron said.
At one point, Macron banged on the rostrum while speaking about the humanitarian crisis in the devastated Gaza Strip. “What is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza? Some claim peace has been achieved, but that has not allowed humanitarian aid to be delivered. It is a sight that shames us all,” he said. “Unlike Trump’s rejection of global AI regulation in his own address a few hours earlier, the French President called on countries to cooperate in building an open-source model of the most advanced artificial intelligence, independent of the ‘superpowers -China and the United States. I do not want anyone to become a vassal to one of the superpowers. Instead, we must join forces to build an open-source model of the most advanced artificial intelligence, a state-of-the-art model,” he noted.
Plenković on constituent status in BiH and “threats to Croats”, criticism of Serbia over war criminal Mladić
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković spoke in his UN address about the European perspective of Southeast Europe and EU enlargement based on meeting criteria.
He pointed out that Croatia brings the experience of a nation that within a single generation experienced aggression and occupation, defended its freedom and rebuilt itself. It joined the UN, NATO and the European Union, and developed a strong democracy and a growing economy.
“As a signatory to the Dayton Peace Agreement and a neighbouring and friendly country to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia is one of the strongest advocates of its European future. The Dayton Peace Agreement ended the war and established the constitutional framework of BiH: one state, two entities and three constituent peoples.
“However, Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still being denied legitimate representation. The solution is a carefully designed electoral reform that protects every citizen while ensuring the restoration of the foundational principle of legitimate political representation of the constituent peoples.”
Plenković also referred at the General Assembly to the recent send-off of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in Belgrade with state honours.
“Ratko Mladić is a convicted war criminal responsible for the Srebrenica genocide – the first genocide in Europe since the Holocaust,” Plenković stressed, adding that this is the culmination of Mladić’s “criminal trail”, which he previously left in Croatia through the shelling of towns, civilian killings, the mining of dams and the destruction of cultural heritage and industrial facilities.
On this occasion, however, Plenković failed to mention that the Croatian Parliament, where his HDZ party holds a majority, has stood by Serbia, and that a proposal by Sandra Benčić from the Možemo! Platform – stipulating that the country’s parliament should declare that Serbia ought not to continue EU accession negotiations until, as she stated, the government in that country changes – was rejected.
Bećirović: Serbian leadership threatens sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH
Denis Bećirović, Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, criticised the leadership of Serbia at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, stating that it threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while omitting to mention that Bosnia’s western neighbour, Croatia, is doing the exact same thing.
As a reminder, last summer the Croatian Parliament adopted a resolution on strengthening the political position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
The resolution was proposed by the Homeland Movement parliamentary group, and the document was agreed upon with the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
The adopted text states that Croats in BiH, under the existing constitutional and political circumstances, are not fully realising their constitutionally guaranteed constituent status and cannot be considered fully equal with the other two constituent peoples, making the issue a legitimate interest of the Republic of Croatia.
The resolution calls on the Croatian Government to continue supporting the full political equality of Croats in BiH within the framework of political system reform.
During his address at the 79th UNGA session, Bećirović said that “Serbia’s ‘Greater Serbia’ aspirations towards the territories of other countries in the region are the fundamental reasons why BiH and the Western Balkans are exposed to new dangers.”
He thanked the UN General Assembly for adopting a resolution on Srebrenica in May, designating 11 July as the international day of reflection and commemoration of the genocide in that eastern Bosnian municipality.
On the first day of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, addresses were also delivered by representatives of Brazil (which traditionally speaks first), Jordan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Lithuania, Peru, Chile, Finland, Luxembourg, Angola, Mongolia, South Korea, Suriname, Sierra Leone, Dominica, Switzerland, Seychelles, Nauru, Vietnam, Tanzania, Bhutan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Japan.
Today, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, will take to the UN General Assembly rostrum. In addition, as he announced on Sunday morning during an appearance on Radio Belgrade, he will hold numerous bilateral meetings, including with Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
(Danas, 23.09.2026)