As President Donald Trump took the world stage Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly to deliver a speech, world leaders were stoic and quiet, barely reacting to his remarks about their countries.
It was the first time Trump spoke to UN leaders as President.
In his 41-minute address, Trump vowed to “totally destroy North Korea” if the US and its allies were forced defend themselves.
“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” Trump said. “The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That’s what the United Nations is all about; that’s what the United Nations is for. Let’s see how they do.”
Television cameras panned briefly to members representing North Korea, but the two seats were vacant.
Trump then took on the Iranian government, saying it was “a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy.”
As the US President railed against the country’s leadership, televisions cameras filmed as a member of Iranian delegation fiddled with a cellphone, then slipped on eyeglasses.
The delegate listened intently and focused on Trump as he described the Iran deal: “the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
The delegate’s reaction was shared by other members.
Members of the Venezuelan delegation sat with their arms crossed as Trump described the country’s leadership, under President Nicolás Maduro, as a “corrupt regime” that has “destroyed a prosperous nation by ideology that has produced poverty and misery everywhere it has been tried.”
Following the speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that he had never heard a “bolder or more courageous speech” in his time at the UN.
Here are photos taken around the room, showing the attendees during Trump’s address.
North Korea
Russia
Iran
South Korea
Venezuela
Israel
Turkey
