Trump Addresses the UN Amid Global Skepticism as the War with Iran Drags On

NEW YORK — U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, but this time he will face a deeply skeptical audience, six months after launching a war he himself promised would be over in weeks.

Tehran, though badly hit militarily and economically, has remained defiant. Iranian forces have blocked oil transport through the Strait of Hormuz, while their Houthi allies in Yemen have tightened control over the Bab el-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea — a development that has significantly raised global energy prices.

Most European and Asian allies have refused Trump’s repeated requests for help in a conflict he launched without consulting them. With high fuel prices in the United States and falling public approval, the president may pay a political price for this conflict in November’s midterm elections.

“We’re seeing what happens when a president starts an elective war without anticipating the unintended consequences,” says Aaron David Miller, former Middle East policy adviser. Trump is expected to present his military campaign as a victory, but the conflict has turned into an unpleasant quagmire that has failed to achieve its goals and, according to officials, has significantly depleted the Pentagon’s missile stockpiles.

U.S. officials met with the Houthis last weekend in Oman in an attempt to find a way out of the crisis. Trump told reporters on Wednesday that “we hope we’re nearing the end,” but analysts warn the war could drag on past the midterm elections.

Source: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-war-grinds-trump-face-skeptical-world-leaders-un-2026-09-18/