UN, Reform & multilateralism 2026

21 September
UNGA Convenes With Uncertainty on the Horizon
This year’s high-level gathering takes place as the Guterres era approaches its end.
(Foreign Policy) As the United Nations General Assembly opens this year, happy talk about future goals has ceded ground to a survivalist mindset. Even the theme of the 81st session of UNGA—“Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All”—reveals deep-seated anxieties. Trust that must be restored, after all, has been lost.
Global conflict is at its highest point since 1945. The 80th UNGA session did not bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine or the war in Sudan. In February, the United States and Israel began a new conflict in Iran that left Tehran in a position to menace the Strait of Hormuz. The Security Council is gridlocked: This month, Russia and China vetoed a U.S. bid to continue independent sanctions monitoring on Iran’s nuclear program.
All this has led to a sense of malaise at the United Nations. The organization’s sustainable development goals, or SDGs, are behind target—despite U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres leaning heavily on the SDG agenda. Guterres concludes 10 years at the helm at the end of this year. Diplomats at the U.N. headquarters in New York City are waiting to exhale as they speculate on how the Security Council will manage the selection process to replace him.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, the newly installed General Assembly president, said in a recent interview with Foreign Policy that he would consider trust restored if he could convince member states that much deeper reforms were needed.

23 September
UNGA week could bend the war — or miss again
Will UNGA Produce a Tangible US–Iran Outcome?
(Reuters) …the whipsaw diplomacy in and around UN headquarters may be remembered as the moment this war’s trajectory finally turned.
Or it may not. Seven months in, the fighting has only widened. The question now is whether the backroom talks happening blocks from the General Assembly floor can finally bend that curve, or whether they simply become the latest in the war’s long list of near-misses.
Even as Trump on Tuesday warned the General Assembly that he faced a choice between a deal and annihilating Iran, envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were sending messages via Qatari shuttles to Iranian officials a few blocks away. Trump called it “a very good meeting”, while Gulf leaders huddled with US officials on next steps.
UNGA has produced real openings before. In 2013, then-US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif held the first US-Iran foreign minister contact since 1979 — a tentative sidelines meeting that, almost two years later, became the JCPOA nuclear deal that curbed Iran’s enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Last year, a meeting on the UNGA sidelines anchored by Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, brought Arab and Muslim leaders together on Gaza and produced a joint declaration underpinning what became the US-brokered ceasefire and hostage-release framework. It represented a more recent template for how the Trump administration has built multilateral cover for a deal.
What makes UNGA week structurally different from ordinary diplomacy is proximity: nearly every relevant player is in Manhattan simultaneously, collapsing weeks of protocol into hallway conversations. This year, the proximity isn’t starting cold, since Iran had already conveyed its response to a new proposal to mediators before the week began, and Qatar has been circulating draft language between the two sides.
Having Trump, Witkoff, Kushner, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the Gulf states all in the same city at once is the precondition for a breakthrough, however — not a guarantee of one.
… No matter what gets negotiated in Midtown Manhattan this week, what happens on the ground back in the Gulf has the potential to spoil it all. This war is being fought across multiple active fronts at once — Houthi missiles over the Red Sea, tankers threading the Strait of Hormuz, pipelines and export terminals within easy reach of Iranian-aligned groups — and a single incident on any of them could eclipse the entire diplomatic process.

Zelensky Warns of Growing Global Cost of Russia’s War in Ukraine
Ukraine’s president said rising fuel prices and deadlier drone technology showed that years of fighting have spilled beyond his country’s borders. He called for steps to end to the war before winter.

Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, is focused on the threat posed by Russia in Europe. Warsaw has been frequently targeted by Russian hybrid warfare tactics, including cyberattacks, sabotage operations and airspace violations, according to analysts. “Russia is carrying out actions aimed at undermining the foundations of international stability,” Nawrocki said. If Russia’s aggression is not met with an adequate response, Nawrocki added, “it becomes an invitation to repeat it.”

Milei threatens at UN that Argentina will take ‘matters into our own hands’ on Falklands
Argentinian president accuses United Nations of being filled with ‘parasites’ in bellicose general assembly speech

22 September
Superpowers cannot solve world’s problems, UN chief says in final general assembly address
(The Guardian) António Guterres says humanity faces unprecedented convergence of threats but mechanisms for collective action are under growing strain

Key moments from the first day of UN General Assembly speeches
Trump said he has a “big decision to make on Iran; France’s Macron called on Russia and Ukraine to halt strikes on energy infrastructure and shipping
• Trump speech: US President Donald Trump told the UN General Assembly a deal with Iran is possible after the midterm elections, but his other choice is to “annihilate the Islamic Republic.” He also spoke about US munitions stockpiles and plans to establish a “large military presence” on Greenland. When he vowed that Cuba’s communist government “will fall,” the Cuban delegation walked out.
• Iran talks: President Masoud Pezeshkian has landed in New York to attend the General Assembly, Iranian state media reported. Earlier today, the US and Iranian delegations engaged in “lengthy talks” through mediators, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said.
• Meeting with Zelensky: Meanwhile, Trump said he thinks Ukraine and Russia will make a deal but did not give any specifics. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky separately said he is ready for a trilateral meeting with Russia and the US.

Some Quick Thoughts on Trump’s UN Speech and UNGA Thus Far
AI and Middle Powers are Taking Center Stage
MARK LEON GOLDBERG
Trump’s Speech
This was a low-energy Trump speech, which was probably a relief for those around the United Nations. Yes, he predictably railed against “globalists,” but his tone was restrained.
… First, he threatened to annihilate Iran! The presidents of Iran, the United States, and Israel are all in New York this week, so there was some speculation that UNGA might spur diplomatic progress in the Iran war. Not so. This line seems to have ended any notion that the UN might be a place where progress is made on de-escalating the U.S.-Iran conflict.
Second, he bragged about exploiting the natural resources of a country whose leader he deposed! “To the victor go the spoils,” Trump said of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. I know it’s hardly unusual for Trump to say something like this, but it’s worth mentioning just how aberrational it is for an American president to make a statement like this on the grounds of an institution premised on preventing the kinds of wars of conquest that wrought the devastation that led to the advent of the UN 81 years ago.
Third, Trump’s remarks on artificial intelligence reflect his zero-sum view of the world. “Whoever wins Super Intelligence, wins,” he said, suggesting once again that he opposes guardrails that might slow progress on frontier AI models, fearing that any restrictions would give China a leg up.
This sentiment very much goes against the grain of the prevailing mood around the UN, which is that guardrails are needed to avoid the potentially calamitous consequences of runaway AI. Indeed, a succinct counterpoint to this worldview was offered yesterday by Finnish President Alexander Stubb. At an AI-themed event I attended, he said of the race for superintelligence: “It doesn’t matter who ‘wins.’ We are all screwed.”

Trump Threatens to ‘Annihilate’ Iran in U.N. Speech
Such warnings—on the U.N. stage, no less—could be considered war crimes.
War Crimes at the U.N.?
U.S. President Donald Trump presented a damning choice during his United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speech on Tuesday: Make a deal with Iran that “lets them rebuild” or “annihilate” the Islamic Republic. “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” Trump posed, echoing past threats that experts have argued could be considered war crimes.
Although Trump’s warnings are not new, using the U.N. stage to deliver them brings a new dimension to the White House’s continued war of words against the institution’s human rights work.
The Trump administration has repeatedly denounced the U.N.’s justice-seeking bodies. Last Thursday, the White House rejected a U.N. fact-finding mission that found “reasonable grounds to believe” that the U.S. military committed war crimes when it launched separate strikes on an Iranian school and sports facility in February. And on Tuesday, he called the U.N. Human Rights Council “craven hypocrites” for its alleged failure to speak up against the persecution of Christians.
But he saved his toughest rhetoric for the U.N.-allied International Criminal Court (ICC). “You’re an evil group of people,” Trump said. He called on all ICC member countries to immediately resign

Outgoing UN chief says polluters have treated atmosphere like an ‘open sewer’
António Guterres laments world leaders’ inaction and says oil and gas firms ‘must pay’ for climate devastation
(The Guardian) For one last time, António Guterres tried to fix the world’s gaze upon the dangerously escalating climate crisis. But the departing UN secretary general found world leaders still largely focused on other issues, even after a painful summer of stunning climate-driven disasters.
Speaking to assembled dignitaries at the UN on Tuesday, Guterres railed against big oil for treating “the atmosphere as an open sewer” and warned again of the catastrophic effects of the climate crisis.
For one last time, António Guterres tried to fix the world’s gaze upon the dangerously escalating climate crisis. But the departing UN secretary general found world leaders still largely focused on other issues, even after a painful summer of stunning climate-driven disasters.
Speaking to assembled dignitaries at the UN on Tuesday, Guterres railed against big oil for treating “the atmosphere as an open sewer” and warned again of the catastrophic effects of the climate crisis.

21 September
Race to be next UN secretary general could rest on US and China trade-offs
Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor
(The Guardian) Numerous last-minute entrants in the race to become the new UN secretary general are being discussed amid concerns that the world powers may not be able to agree a successor to António Guterres from the current field of seven candidates.
Three rounds of secret ballots have so far not produced an obvious frontrunner, with probably only three candidates regarded as still having a realistic chance of gathering the required support.
The new leader, due to take office in January, will face an organisation at the start of a cost-cutting overhaul programme and seen as marginal to the major global conflicts.
… Names being mentioned as potential late drafts include Lana Nusseibeh, the minister of state at the United Arab Emirates and a former UAE ambassador to the UN, and Sigrid Kaag, a former UN under secretary general and Dutch centrist politician. She was briefly the senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza before joining the advisory committee to Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
Other candidates mentioned include Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the polyglot president of Kazakhstan, and, in deference to the US, Viktor Orbán, the former prime minister of Hungary, who is still much admired by Trump but reviled as a disruptive populist by many European leaders.
Vuk Jeremić, a Serbian former president of the UN general assembly who came second behind Guterres in the 2016 race, has also been mentioned.
… A communique at the end of this month’s Brics summit attended by 21 countries, of which 10 are full members, said: “We note that no woman has ever been elected for the role of secretary general, and only one national from Latin America and Caribbean, and only two nationals from Africa and Asia each have ever occupied this position.”

9 September
António Guterres Leaves the U.N. as the Last Globalist Standing
Richard Gowan
(World Politics Review) Later this month, António Guterres will make his final speech to world leaders as United Nations secretary-general at the annual high-level session of the General Assembly in New York. His audience will listen respectfully, but their minds may drift elsewhere. U.N. members have spent much of 2026 debating who should succeed Guterres when he steps down at the end of his second five-year term in December. The selection process is underway, but it is still not clear who will win. Meanwhile, the incumbent’s window to shape global affairs has all but closed.
Nobody, Guterres included, would claim he is leaving the U.N. at an easy moment. His final two years in office have been overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed assault on multilateralism, as well as a proliferation of conflicts that the U.N. appears unable to halt. Guterres takes credit for navigating the organization through Washington’s steep budget cuts. But diplomats and international officials fault him for not pushing harder for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan. The secretary-general tends to argue in response that the U.N. has little or no political leverage and must instead focus on what it can do to mitigate civilian suffering through humanitarian diplomacy and aid.