Two presidents whose countries are at war were due in the same city on the same day. That was the odd fact hanging over the 81st UN General Assembly, whose General Debate opened on Tuesday, September 22, with nearly 130 heads of state and government expected at UN headquarters in New York. It was set to run through Saturday and close on Monday, September 28, under the theme “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all.”
Gulf News, previewing the week, said the speeches from the green-marble podium would matter less than the meetings in rooms around it. Washington had approved visas for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and other members of the core Iranian delegation, with limits on their movements and purchases while in New York. Trump had publicly said he was open to meeting Pezeshkian, though no meeting was announced.
Iran at the center
The US-Israeli war against Iran, approaching seven months by then, shaped almost everything. Trump was due to meet Gulf Cooperation Council leaders on Tuesday, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman expected to attend. Reuters reported the talks would cover plans for a postwar strategy. Houthi gains near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait added worry about shipping and energy prices. Pezeshkian was scheduled to address the Assembly on Wednesday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denied a US visa, was cleared by an Assembly vote to speak by video.
Ukraine, AI and a money problem
Ukraine’s war, now past four years old, took another slot. Zelensky said he and Trump had agreed to meet in New York, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was expected to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to CNN’s preview. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the blockade in the Black Sea and the Middle East crisis together threaten food, fertilizer and energy supplies.
Artificial intelligence climbed the agenda too. The Security Council was scheduled to discuss it on Wednesday. Guterres urged leading countries to set “common guardrails in order to avoid this race to the bottom that could lead one day to a gigantic disaster at the global level.” Trump has called concern about AI risks a “hoax.”
Money was the quieter story. The United States kept its General Assembly vote by paying $725 million toward the regular budget in the week before, but it still owes more than $1 billion. “The UN may not be in emergency care like it was last year, but it seems to be trapped in a trauma center for the foreseeable future,” said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group. Xi Jinping stayed away, expected instead to meet Trump in Washington on Thursday.
Guterres leaves office at the end of 2026 after a decade as secretary-general. The Security Council had already held an informal straw poll on his successor, and no clear frontrunner had emerged.
Sources
- general assembly: UN General Assembly 2026: Trump returns to the world stage as Ukraine, Middle East wars and AI risks dominate agenda – The Economic Times
- UN General Assembly 2026: Trump, Iran War, Gaza, Ukraine and 8 Key Things to Watch in New York
