Rubio says of effort to recognize Palestinian state: “The whole thing is irrelevant”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday on “CBS Mornings” of the effort by several U.S. allies to ask the U.N. to formally recognize a Palestinian state that “the whole thing is irrelevant” as long as the war continues. He added that “it’s almost a vanity project for a couple of these world leaders who want to be relevant.” He said the effort has “made it even harder to get Hamas to enter into concessions” to bring an end to the war.
The secretary of state said there’s “a window opportunity right now” to bring an end to war in Gaza.
“The only leader in the world really that can sort of broker that or bring that together is President Trump,” Rubio said. “That’s why every country in the region, and frankly, every country in the world, including many of those involved in this recognition effort, are begging the president to get involved in this issue.”
Rubio said “we’ll have a very important meeting today with the majority of Muslim countries, including the Gulf kingdoms and others in different parts of the world, in the hopes of perhaps taking one last shot here at ending the conflict in Gaza, getting all of the hostages, all of them, released and and putting together in place something where humanitarian relief can be provided to people safely without rewarding a terrorist group like Hamas.”
Trump’s speech comes as his administration breaks with U.N.
As the U.S. hosts leaders from around the world in New York City this week, President Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from multiple U.N. agencies, including the Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization. The U.S. has also cut its contributions to the U.N., with the president and his administration critical of their approach to Israel and extensive U.S.-funded reach around the world.
Trump to speak as Russia-Ukraine war remains unresolved
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in New York City for this week’s sessions, as he seeks to rally European allies and the Trump administration to continue backing his military.
The fact that the war in Ukraine is ongoing continues to be a point of frustration for Mr. Trump, who insisted during the campaign he would be able to resolve the conflict with Russia in one day.
“The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down — he’s really let me down — was gonna be Russia and Ukraine,” the president said during a press conference last week alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “But we’ll see how that turns out. But that turned out to be, I thought it might be among the easiest of the group.”
Meanwhile, Polish President Karol Nawrocki may address the entry of Russian drones into his country’s airspace during his U.N. speech later Tuesday. Mr. Trump has said the incursion may have been a mistake, an idea Polish officials have rejected.
Separately, Leavitt told reporters Monday that the White House is aware of Russia’s offer to keep abiding by nuclear warhead limits in the New START treaty with the U.S. when it expires in February, if the U.S. does the same — but only for a year. The nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia, signed in 2010, calls for halving the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers.
U.S. Secret Service disrupts telecom network that threatened NYC during U.N. General Assembly
The Secret Service has disrupted a sprawling telecommunications network in the New York tristate area that investigators say could have posed a threat to this week’s General Assembly meetings.
In the largest seizure of its kind, the Secret Service announced Tuesday that the agency found active SIM farms at abandoned apartment buildings located at more than five sites. In total, law enforcement discovered 300 SIM servers – over 100,000 SIM cards – enabling encrypted, anonymous communication and capable of sending 30 million text messages per minute.
Officials say the servers were so powerful they could have disabled cell phone towers and launched distributed denial of services attacks with the ability to block emergency communications like EMS and police dispatch.
“This network had the potential to disable cell phone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network in New York City,” U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool said in a video released by the agency.
Early analysis shows the network was used for communication between foreign governments and individuals known to U.S. law enforcement, including members of known organized crime gangs, drug cartels and human trafficking rings, according to multiple officials briefed on the investigation.
Here’s what President Trump could talk about in his United Nations speech — including Russia-Ukraine and Gaza
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president will tout the renewal of American strength around the world, list his accomplishments and discuss “how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order.”
The speech comes as the president hopes to settle Russia’s war in Ukraine by brokering a deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Mr. Trump also called the situation in Gaza a “disaster” over the weekend.
“The hatred between Putin and Zelenskyy is very substantial,” the president told reporters Sunday, as a peace deal remains elusive. “There’s a lot of bad blood. And of course, Gaza is a basic disaster. We’ve got to get that taken care of. But the big thing will be that I’m going to be speaking at the United Nations, and I hope to do a good job.”
Trump administration restricting Iranian leaders’ movement
One unusual sight at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual sessions is the presence of world leaders who have chilly or even hostile relationships with the United States.
Under a 1947 agreement, the U.S. is generally expected to grant visas to U.N. delegates — even those from U.S. foes — who wish to travel to the organization’s headquarters in Manhattan. But those can be subject to restrictions.
The State Department said Monday that Iranian delegates who are in town for this week’s meetings will only be allowed to access “areas strictly necessary to transit to and from the UN headquarters district to conduct their official UN business.” Iranian officials are also barred from accessing luxury goods or club stores, according to a statement from the department.
“We will not allow the Iranian regime to allow its clerical elites to have a shopping spree in New York while the Iranian people endure poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and dire shortages of water and electricity,” the statement read.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to travel to New York for this week’s meetings, Iran’s government has said.
Last month, the State Department said it would deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority, which is a U.N. observer rather than a full-fledged member. The department cited national security and accused the organization of “undermining the prospects for peace.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the General Assembly in a video.
Israel-Hamas war — and recognition of Palestinian state — could take center stage this week
The Israel-Hamas war is sure to be a frequent topic in this week’s speeches. Last week, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution that calls for a phased end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pushes for the creation of a Palestinian state.
As frustration with the war grows, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state over the weekend, and France followed suit at a U.N. meeting on Monday.
The Trump administration disagrees, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling those U.S. allies’ recognition of a Palestinian state “just more talk and not enough action.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced over the summer that he would recognize a Palestinian state, and he said on Monday that France had done so. In an interview last week with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan, he argued the move could disempower Hamas. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called the move “reckless,” a reaction Macron called “excessive.”
Also, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is set to speak on Tuesday, after Israel targeted Hamas leaders in a strike on the Qatari capital of Doha earlier this month. Qatar condemned the move, and Mr. Trump criticized it.
Trump’s new U.N. ambassador Mike Waltz was confirmed last week
This week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting is the first public test for Mike Waltz, who was approved by the Senate only last week to be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
The U.S. has gone without a confirmed ambassador to the U.N. since the start of Mr. Trump’s second term as president. Mr. Trump originally nominated Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who gave up her role in congressional leadership for the job, but the president pulled her nomination in March, saying he needed her in Congress due to the GOP’s razor-thin majority.
Waltz previously served as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, but he was replaced in that role by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in May.
What is the U.N. General Assembly?
The U.N. General Assembly includes all United Nations member states. As the U.N.’s primary deliberative body, its members consider and vote on recommendations to tackle major world issues, ranging from climate change to human rights. Its resolutions are often nonbinding.
The body meets every year, starting in September. This year’s sessions are also marked by the 80th anniversary of the United Nations’ founding.
The U.N. says the theme for the general debate of this session is “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.”