AI, US war against Iran to dominate UN General Assembly

The future of artificial intelligence and the stalled US war against Iran, with its ripple effect on the global economy, are expected to dominate the UN gathering of world leaders.

Following weeks of worldwide headlines about risks of uncontrollable AI - and calls for a slowdown - industry leaders are set to brief an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Clement Delangue of Hugging Face will brief the 15-strong council, the United Nation's top body.

Hugging Face, a repository of AI models, was the target of a recent cyberattack by autonomous OpenAI software, the first in a series of incidents that have raised alarm bells over the rapidly evolving technology.

Meanwhile, the annual parade of UN General Assembly speeches is set to continue, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arriving last night, according to Iranian state media, to address the world body for the first time since the United States and Israel launched a war on his country.

The attacks in late February sparked a war that engulfed the Middle East, and the Trump administration has so far yet to reach a deal with Iran to end the conflict.

Iran retaliated by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy transit, sparking a surge in global oil prices.

The recent Houthi takeover of Yemen's Red Sea coast has also heightened fears over global trade and shipping through the vital Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Mr Pezeshkian's speech will come a day after Mr Trump raised the possibility that he could "annihilate the Islamic Republic" and "drive them into hell".

During his remarks, all but one member of the Iranian delegation walked out.

Ukraine, AI showdown

Mr Trump made the comments in a fire and brimstone speech, but he also revealed that there were talks between the two sides for the first time in months.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Mr Trump's roving envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the UN's signature diplomatic gathering.

Mr Araghchi said that Iran'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.

Outside the UN yesterday, there was a vigil with protesters demonstrating against Iran's use of the death penalty.

Besides conflict in the Middle East, Russia's war against Ukraine will again be raised among global diplomatic circles.

A Security Council meeting on Ukraine is scheduled for 4pm Irish time, while President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to address the UN General Assembly as well.

Mr Zelensky, after meeting with Mr Trump yesterday, said that the US and Ukraine want the war with Russia to end "before winter".

He added that he is ready to halt strikes on Russian energy sites if Russia agreed to do the same.

In his speech, Mr Trump rejected international regulation of AI, calling such proposals a "globalist scheme".

"The very same people who said we'll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming... are now saying that AI is going to kill us all," Mr Trump said.

But just hours after Mr Trump spoke, Mr Macron took to the rostrum and defiantly called for the creation of an open-source AI model not dependent on the US or China.

"I don't want anyone to become the vassal of one of the great powers. Rather, we must come together to build an open-source frontier model, a cutting-edge model," he said.

'To the victor belong the spoils' - Trump on Venezuela deal

Mr Trump and Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez met in person for the first time yesterday and discussed energy and security, she said.

Ms Rodriguez, who is set to address the UN General Assembly today, is the first Venezuelan head of state to visit since deposed president Nicolas Maduro was captured in a US military raid in January.

Ms Rodriguez described the meeting on the sidelines of the assembly in the US as "historic" in a message on X, posted alongside a photo of the two leaders smiling.

She said they discussed "strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries and moving forward with a cooperation agenda in strategic areas such as energy, mining, and security".

Several US officials attended the meeting in addition to Mr Trump including top advisor Stephen Miller, chief of staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a White House official said.

Ms Rodriguez was Venezuela's vice president under Nicolás Maduro, but has so far cooperated with US demands, including granting the US access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves, the largest in the world.

Mr Trump mentioned Venezuela during his address at the UN yesterday, saying: "When you add the United States and Venezuela together, we have more than 60 percent of the oil in the world."

"To the victor belong the spoils," he added.