Trump weighs 'big decision' on Iran, rejects AI push in major UN speech

US President Donald Trump has used a speech at the UN to portray "American power" as the solution to the world's problems, defending his ongoing war with Iran and declaring he now had to decide whether to "annihilate" the Islamic Republic.

Mr Trump also said the US would reject any international scheme to put controls on artificial intelligence — just a day after 22 world leaders, including Australia's Anthony Albanese, signed a statement calling for global guardrails.

Mr Trump's address, delivered six weeks before the US's midterm elections, amounted to a pushback against growing criticism that his administration's actions abroad were harming the US and creating a more destabilised and dangerous world.

"We're reasserting American power, including American military power, where necessary, in our region and around the world, to create a safer future for all of us," Mr Trump said.

"While others have talked, I have acted," he said.

"While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace."

As the war with Iran approaches the eight-month mark with no end in sight, Mr Trump said he was facing a "big decision": Strike a deal that allowed Iran to rebuild, or "annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly".

"Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness for generations?," he said, as a representative for Iran's delegation sat stony-faced in the audience.

"But I believe we'll make a deal right after the election, because it doesn't make sense for them not to. They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election."

Mr Trump suggested Cuba was the US's next target, predicting its communist dictatorship "will fall", but also saying "let's see what happens" in negotiations with the US. His comments prompted a walk-out by the Cuban delegation.

He also used his address to predict, as he has repeatedly in the past, that he would end the Russia-Ukraine war soon. 

"It's going to happen, I think, more quickly than people understand," he said. 

Renaming AI and rejecting regulation

On the dangers of AI, which Mr Trump has been downplaying as a "hoax", he conceded there was a need to "be careful", but said: "The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now."

The comment represents a rejection of a global body proposed by a coalition of middle power nations, including Australia, in a statement signed on the sidelines of the summit yesterday.

Mr Trump said he was ordering the US government to start referring to "artificial intelligence" as "super intelligence" in all official documents.

"The use of the word 'artificial' makes intelligence fake, it makes it sound fake and it is not fake,"

he said.

"It's actually amazing."

The term "superintelligence" is already defined as an advanced form of artificial intelligence that exceeds human capabilities.

Some experts have warned superintelligence represents one of the greatest risks AI could pose to humanity, and US politicians including independent senator Bernie Sanders have proposed a ban on its development.

Mr Trump was one of the first heads of state to address the UN General Assembly high-level week, the UN's annual gathering of world leaders in New York.

He is expected to hold a series of sideline meetings after his speech, including with gulf state leaders whose countries have borne the brunt of Iran's retaliatory missile and drone strikes.