Iran warns it is ready to 'inflict crushing blows' on US after Trump threatened to 'annihilate' regime in UN speech

Iran has slammed Donald Trump's threat to 'annihilate' the country as 'propaganda', warning that any US attack could trigger 'crushing blows' against America. During his speech before the UN on Tuesday, Trump said that he has a decision before him: whether he should make a deal with Iran and let them rebuild, or if he should 'annihilate the Islamic Republic' with additional strikes and 'drive them into Hell.'Trump also accused the 'fanatical' Iranian regime of slaughtering over 72,000 of its own citizens this year, alleging 10,000 were recently killed for protesting.In a statement carried by Iran's Press TV, Iran's Armed Forces warned that the country would deliver 'even harsher, crushing, and unpredictable blows to the aggressors.' 'The rhetoric of the US president will not alter the balance of power calculations and will never compensate for this country's diminished position in the emerging global order or America's humiliating defeats in the war against Iran and the [regional] Resistance Front,' the statement added.Following the threats from both sides, however, Trump said he had a 'very good meeting' with his Iranian counterparts. He said that Iran can embrace 'potential greatness or obliteration.''It's to their advantage to make a deal,' Trump said, adding, 'We have another one scheduled with them in the near future.' President Donald Trump speaks to the United Nations General Assembly Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (C) during a farewell ceremony before his departure to New York to attend the UN General Assembly Smoke and fire rise from the site of airstrikes at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran Specifics of what was discussed were not immediately available, though it is expected that the two sides discussed the ongoing war in Iran and how to end it – similar to past discussions between the two sides. Oil prices fell on Wednesday after Trump said US and Iranian representatives had met.The international benchmark, Brent crude, and main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, dipped to $98.91 and $89.93 per barrel respectively in early Asian trade - well below the symbolic $100 mark they have smashed repeatedly since the Middle East war broke out in February.Nearly seven months after US-Israeli strikes on Tehran triggered the conflict, the foes remain at an impasse, with Iran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed and the United States persisting with a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.A parallel conflict between Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen has enveloped the kingdom, squeezing energy exports from the Red Sea.Trump has pledged that oil would come down 'as soon as' the United States wins the war.The dip in oil prices came as the world's biggest crude exporter Saudi Arabia reportedly rebooted operations along its East-West Pipeline - a crucial oil export route shut down by the conflict rocking the Middle East.Riyadh said this month that drones launched from Iraq had forced the closure of the pipeline, which it had increasingly used to bypass the lockdown of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.The kingdom is aiming to resume exports later this week, Bloomberg quoted a source as saying.But while Saudi oil giant Aramco reportedly told Asian refiners they could soon pick up crude from the Red Sea port of Yanbu, the firm told their European counterparts they will not be allocated oil in October, Bloomberg said.The annual parade of UN General Assembly speeches is set to continue, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian having arrived on Tuesday evening, according to Iranian state media.He is set to address the world body for the first time since the US and Israel launched attacks on his country. Iranians drive next to an anti-US billboard carrying a sentence in Persian that reads, 'The devil army will be drowned in the Persian Gulf' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Trump's roving envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the UN's signature diplomatic gathering.Araghchi said that Tehran's demands included 'the immediate lifting of the (US) naval blockade, the prompt payment of all Iranian assets that have been frozen, and an end to the war on all resistance fronts,' state news agency IRIB reported. Meanwhile, even tighter US sanctions intended to cripple Iranian aviation come into force on Wednesday, after Washington vowed to 'shut down' Tehran's carriers and punish anyone doing business with them.In their first acknowledgement of disruption, Iranian media reported late Tuesday that flights to the Iraqi and Omani capitals would be cancelled the following day, but other routes would be unaffected.The new measures, announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday, follow earlier aviation sanctions as well as his threat of an 'economic D-Day' meant to force the Islamic republic into submission, after military means of ending the Middle East war stall.It remained unclear what their full impact would be, as the Iranian aviation sector has already been targeted for years by various sanctions.