UN General Assembly Preview: President Trump's return

[EDITORS - Trump speaks before the UN on Tues 25th Sept at about 9:45am EST / 1345GMT]

President Trump returns to the UN General Assembly this week after a year in which his administration has increasingly taken unilateral action, sidelining the UN in the process.

The US administration has angered the UN and other world powers by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, rejecting the Human Rights Council, slashing funding to multiple UN agencies, and pushing a hard-line pro-Israel stance.

But America has made progress with North Korea, albeit without the inclusion of the UN.

So how will the US President approach his return to the very place he's spent the past year disagreeing with?

Nick Harper reports.


IN: "Donald..."
OUT: SOC
DUR: 2:35

AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-arn.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-fm4.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-gen.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-von.mp3
938LIVE: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-938.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-ziz.mp3
SABC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0923unga-trump-nh-sabc.mp3
 

TAKE VO
Donald Trump's first visit to the UN was certainly memorable, with a few choice words for North Korea's leader Kim Jong un.

SOT: Donald Trump, U.S. President
"Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime."

But since then relations have improved.
Not so, with Iran, who this year will replace North Korea as America's enemy number one.  
In May the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement - against the wishes of the United Nations.
Here's Senior Fellow of the Center for Policy Research at the United Nations University Richard Gowan.

SOT: Richard Gowan, Senior Fellow, Center for Policy Research, United Nations University
"Relations between the Trump Administration and the UN are pretty poor. We've seen Trump pulling back form a number of multilateral agreements, most noticeably the Iran nuclear deal, and also pulling out the Human Rights Council. So the US is disconnecting itself from the UN on many significant issues."

TAKE VO
That disconnecting has also seen the US reduce funding to the main UN budget and successfully campaign to reduce UN peacekeeping numbers.
As the US ambassador Nikki Haley made clear ahead of the General Assembly it's priority this year will be continuing to put America first.

SOT: Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN
"We really value sovereignty of the country, we think every country should as well, regardless of who the country is. And so that's a conversation we want to have. It's not saying multilateralism can't work, but it's saying sovereignty is a priority over all of that."

TAKE VO
Another area where the US has overturned UN thinking is in the Middle East.
Running counter to diplomatic tradition the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem.
And cut all funding to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA. Peter Mulrean is the New York Director for the UNRWA agency.

SOT: Peter Mulrean, Director, UNRWA New York
"Well the situation right now is as bad as probably UNRWA has ever had it in the past. If you start start cutting UNRWA services, in things like education, healthcare and food, it's very hard to see how these people can go on."

TAKE VO
The smiles and handshakes belie the fact that the multilateral spirit of the world body is at odds with the go-it-alone attitude of American protectionist.

TAKE VO
UN watchers expect President Trump's return to the UN to be fiery and tough-talking. He'll have Iran in his sights.
And don't expect a change of heart for the UN itself, following a year in which the US administration has largely sidelined it or purely undermined it.

SOC