Trump Addresses Iran at U.N.; Airlines Face Shutdown

President Donald Trump will address the war with Iran this morning at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that all Iranian airlines face a shutdown starting tomorrow as American pressure mounts on Tehran's economy under Operation Epic Fury and Operation Economic Outcast.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox & Friends Tuesday that President Trump remains open to meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the summit in New York. "I think what you'll find from the first term, this president and now is that he's willing to talk and meet with anybody," Rubio stated.

But whether productive results emerge is harder to tell because the ultimate decision maker in Iran is the supreme leader. The supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric. We must remember we are dealing with people driven by theology when making decisions.

Rubio also vowed the United States will always stand with Saudi Arabia as it faces attacks from Iran-backed Houthis. "That's a dangerous conflict, obviously," Rubio said. "What it's done is, it's not just the Houthis, Kataib Hezbollah out of Iraq, which is an Iranian proxy, also fired into Saudi Arabia, and it has shut down their main pipeline." That pipeline needs to get restarted immediately.

"We have a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia. We intend to live up to our commitments on it," Rubio added. "We are working to see if this thing can be fixed." But ultimately, if it comes down to it, the United States will always stand with Saudi Arabia and support them because we have an agreement with them to do so.

That said, that is a very dangerous and complex conflict that pre-exists. Our history involves the Houthis as well, and we don't want to see that impact either the Red Sea or the Saudi economy. Rubio noted he cannot discuss all ongoing conversations publicly but sufficed it to say we have been living up to those commitments.

Rubio identified the central issue on Tuesday ahead of Trump's speech is that Iran is run by lunatic clerics. "There's always been concern in the Gulf states about Iran," Rubio explained. "The reason why we have military bases in the Gulf states is because they're worried about Iran. That's why we're there."

Iran sponsors terrorist groups operating out of Iraq and Syria while helping Hezbollah in Lebanon. They are behind the Houthis in Yemen attacking Saudi Arabia, and they want a nuclear weapon. This is a concern for the world, not just the Gulf states.

"At the core of all this," Rubio said, "you talk about oil, we talk about the Straits of Hormuz. The central issue here is Iran is run by lunatic clerics." These are lunatic clerics holding a radical view of their religion with an apocalyptic vision that drives their actions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that all Iranian airlines will be effectively shut down starting Wednesday as part of the Operation Economic Outcast pressure campaign against Tehran. He explained the mechanism clearly to CNBC. If those aircraft land, they cannot get fuel. They cannot receive landing services. You simply cannot sell them tickets. The airline will be knocked out of the dollar system entirely.

This move follows earlier sanctions this month where the Treasury Department targeted 36 entities linked to the aviation sector. Officials stated the regime uses these assets to move weapons and personnel across borders along with illicit cargo. The department noted that Iran's commercial airlines have long supported destabilizing activities by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. That group has used ostensibly private carriers like Mahan Air for transporting arms and ferrying fighters.

A digital traffic sign on Interstate 405 near Westwood's Persian Square in Los Angeles was hacked to display a website targeting Iranian dissidents. The New York Post reported that the site, goorkan.info, claims to expose traitors to the homeland. It has been linked directly to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Activist Emel Karsaz told the FBI after finding her name and photograph shared on that page along with other personal details. Caltrans confirmed the unauthorized access occurred while an internal investigation into system logs is underway.

President Donald Trump will address the U.S.-Iran war this morning at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Ambassador Mike Waltz said to expect a healthy dose of calling out the ridiculous during the speech. He pointed to the Human Rights Council in Geneva which released a report alleging US service members may have engaged in war crimes years ago. Waltz argued that civilian casualties are unintentional and incidental in conflict rather than deliberate acts like the Iranian regime machine-gunning 40,000 of its own people over just three or four days.

The General Debate of the 81st U.N. General Assembly begins Tuesday under the theme restoring trust and managing transformation. The US-Iran war enters its seventh month while fighting involving Iran-backed Houthis places new pressure on shipping through the Red Sea. This situation raises fresh concerns among Gulf states about regional security. Reuters reported that European and Asian allies have largely resisted calls to become more directly involved in the conflict. The prolonged war has strained Washington's relationships with some partners as tensions rise globally.