WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran could face destruction if it rejects a deal to end the war, even as he indicated that diplomacy might still offer a way forward during a week of high-level meetings at the United Nations.

“I have a big decision to make,” Trump said in a speech at the UN General Assembly in ‌New York.

Trump presented the situation as a stark choice: Iran could reach an agreement and rebuild, or the United States could pursue a campaign designed to eliminate the Islamic Republic.

“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?… Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

Iran’s Armed Forces dismissed Trump’s comments as “propaganda” in a statement released Tuesday, saying the military remained ready to respond to any attack.

The statement said Iran was prepared to deliver “full readiness to inflict more severe, crushing, and unpredictable blows on the aggressors.”

The exchange came as negotiators continued working to end the conflict, now approaching its seventh month. The war began with coordinated US-Israeli strikes, has killed thousands, driven oil prices higher and spread into neighboring countries.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said on X that American and Iranian officials held extended talks Tuesday on the margins of the UN General Assembly. Mediators shuttled between the delegations throughout the day, he said.

Witkoff said the mediation effort would continue and voiced hope that the talks would “prove constructive and promising.”

Trump also met with Middle Eastern leaders as governments sought a way to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the conflict, the strategic passage handled roughly one-fifth of worldwide oil and gas shipments. Regional governments are weighing the need to protect their security interests against concerns that a settlement could expand Iran’s influence.

Several of the countries involved host major US military facilities, many of which have come under attack from Iran during the war.

“We think that the situation with Iran could end right after the (November 3) midterm elections, maybe before. I don’t know. You never know,” Trump said during his meeting with the regional leaders.

The talks are unfolding as Trump faces mounting domestic and international pressure. Energy costs are rising in the United States, the conflict is widening and the midterm elections are drawing closer. Any agreement could shape oil markets, Gulf security and daily life for millions of Iranians.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met separately with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Qatar, according to its state news agency, has spent months trying to lower tensions and encourage negotiations.

A senior Iranian official said Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within days if Washington eased military pressure and ended its blockade of Iranian ports.

The official told Reuters that Iran had delivered its latest proposal to the United States through intermediaries the previous week. If Washington accepted Tehran’s conditions, Iran could resume Gulf shipping through the strait within seven days, the official said.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former head of the country’s negotiating team, again rejected the idea of capitulation under pressure.

“Trump must understand that he cannot impose his power on the Iranian people and its armed forces.”

WIDENING REGIONAL CONFLICT

The discussions between Trump and Gulf leaders also included a Qatari plan for a joint security arrangement bringing together Iran and the Arab Gulf states, according to regional sources. One source said Tehran was reviewing the proposal.

Al Thani has argued that any such framework would need to provide security guarantees to Gulf countries while expanding trade and economic links between Iran and its Arab neighbors.

Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest Gulf state, has taken a more active role in the conflict this month as Iran-aligned Houthi forces have advanced in Yemen. The Houthis have driven back troops loyal to the Saudi-backed government and now pose a threat to Saudi oil shipments moving through the Red Sea.

The United States carried out a two-month bombing campaign against the Houthis last year. It has nevertheless rejected repeated Saudi appeals for another operation. The New York Times reported that Trump called off planned US strikes against the group at the last minute on Sunday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked why Washington had not attacked the Houthis, said the United States would continue to support Saudi Arabia but characterized the conflict as deeply complicated and rooted in years of history.

“That said, that is a very dangerous and complex conflict that pre-exists … We have a history with the Houthis as ⁠well, and that’s ​something we don’t want to see impacted either.”

Oil prices eased somewhat Tuesday after sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had restarted its East-West Pipeline. Riyadh could also resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu within hours, though volumes would initially remain restricted.

The East-West Pipeline gives Saudi Arabia a crucial alternative for moving oil when the Strait of Hormuz is blocked or unsafe. Operations had been suspended after attacks earlier this month that Riyadh blamed on Iran-backed groups based in Iraq.