President Donald Trump is reportedly open to a face-to-face meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst, who said Sunday that he put the question to the president directly.
Yingst said he asked Trump about the annual gathering of world leaders, where the president is expected to hold talks with counterparts and officials from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. When Yingst raised the prospect of a sit-down with Pezeshkian, who is also expected to attend, Trump indicated he would likely be receptive.
“I asked the President about the U.N. General Assembly this week,” Yingst said. “Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is going to be there, and I asked if he’d be open to meeting with the Iranian leader, and he said he’d probably be open to it.”
A Weekend Like Any Other — With Alerts Across the Region
According to Yingst’s account, Trump characterized the weekend as no different from any other, despite security alerts that went out to U.S. citizens across the Middle East. The State Department issued a warning on Saturday telling Americans in the region that “due to tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation.”
The department advised U.S. citizens currently in the Middle East to “exercise heightened vigilance” and to be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.
Yingst also relayed that Trump described himself as operating in a “deciding mode,” and that Trump said “very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future.” The correspondent added that the president framed his own question as: “if and when do I blow the entire nation up?”
Houthi Strikes on Saudi Arabia Add to Regional Tensions
The remarks came as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen announced they had launched missiles and drones at what they described as “sensitive” sites in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, according to CNBC. The Houthi claims followed reports of flames and a large plume of smoke near the city’s main airport within hours, though local authorities have not identified a cause.
The Houthis, who have carried out repeated attacks on shipping and on Saudi territory during the region’s recent conflicts, framed the strikes as targeting strategic locations. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the extent of any damage, and Saudi officials have not publicly attributed the smoke near the airport to an attack.
Diplomacy and Pressure in the Same Breath
The possibility of a Trump-Pezeshkian meeting at the UN would be a notable turn for a relationship that has been defined largely by sanctions, military posturing, and stalled nuclear negotiations. Pezeshkian took office as Iran’s president in 2024, and his attendance in New York offers a rare opening for direct engagement between the two governments, even if only on the margins of the General Assembly.
At the same time, the administration has kept up economic pressure on Tehran. In a separate interview, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed further Iran sanctions, describing the pressure campaign with a blunt metaphor: “The snake’s dead but it doesn’t know it’s dead.” The comment underscores the administration’s dual approach — holding out the possibility of talks while tightening financial restrictions.
Trump’s public posture toward Iran has long oscillated between threats of military force and expressions of willingness to negotiate. During his first term, he withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal and ordered the strike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, while also saying at times that he would meet Iranian leaders “anytime” without preconditions.
Whether any meeting actually materializes in New York remains uncertain. Trump’s remarks to Yingst were not a formal commitment, and no schedule for a Trump-Pezeshkian encounter has been announced. The White House has not issued a statement detailing plans for such a meeting, and Iranian officials have not publicly responded to the prospect.
What to Watch This Week
The UN General Assembly brings together heads of state and foreign ministers for a week of speeches, bilateral meetings, and back-channel conversations. For the United States, the agenda in New York is expected to include Gulf partners — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE among them — whose governments have their own complicated relationships with Tehran and have been watching the Houthi attacks on Saudi soil with concern.
For now, the president’s message appears to be two-track: open to a handshake with Iran’s president in one moment, and openly weighing the use of force in the next. That ambiguity, relayed secondhand through a television correspondent rather than a formal policy announcement, is itself the story as Washington and Tehran head into a high-stakes diplomatic week.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2026/09/20/report-trump-open-to-meeting-iranian-president-at-u-n-deciding-if-and-when-do-i-blow-the-entire-nation-up/