UNITED NATIONS _ President Donald Trump will use his third address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to urge world leaders to help confront Iran, although his call may be overshadowed by the growing scandal over his apparent effort to get Ukraine to investigate a potential political rival in the 2020 race.
U.S. officials blamed Iran for the Sept. 14 attack on two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, and the Pentagon moved last weekend to boost air and missile defenses to help protect critical infrastructure in the kingdom.
Iran has denied any involvement in the drone and missile strikes, however, and the Trump administration has not released proof that Iran directed or launched the attack.
"A lot of things are happening with respect to Iran, a lot more than you would know," Trump said Monday, his first day at the annual U.N. gathering. "I'll be discussing it a little bit tomorrow."
Washington could retaliate against Iran with cyberattacks, which it has used in the past, but such operations are usually kept secret.
The White House wants to assemble an international coalition to help block what it describes as Iran's malign activities across the Middle East.
"The world must come to terms with Iran's ambitions and counter them, or the Iranian Crescent will soon enough become a full moon," said Brian Hook, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, said at the Asia Society in New York.
But some leaders also blame Trump for helping create the current crisis by withdrawing last year from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and imposing a thicket of new sanctions, even though Tehran was complying with the accord. The other world powers who signed the accord have tried to keep it intact.
Presidents usually cover a grab bag of topics at the annual General Assembly, and Trump is also expected to condemn the regime in Venezuela, boast about the U.S. economy, and seek to pressure China and other countries over trade.
Trump's first two U.N. addresses were rocky affairs. During his first, in 2017, he derided North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as a "rocket man on a suicide mission," raising fears of war. But Trump and Kim have met three times since then, easing tensions although Kim has shown no sign of giving up his nuclear weapons, the U.S. goal.
Last year, some diplomats and world leaders appeared to laugh when Trump bragged at the U.N. that he had "accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country."
On Monday, Trump's return visit was overshadowed, in part, by mounting concerns on Capitol Hill that he may have improperly sought to use foreign policy for personal gain.
At issue is whether Trump improperly pushed Ukraine's president to reopen an investigation into a natural gas company in Kyiv that had hired Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden, who leads most polls for the Democratic nomination.
Trump has accused Biden of improperly using his influence, when he was vice president, to stop an investigation of the company. No evidence has emerged of any wrongdoing by Biden or his son.
Trump has admitted that he spoke about Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call on July 25, but he insists he did nothing wrong. House Democrats are trying to obtain a whistle-blower complaint that reportedly involves the call.
The president is scheduled to meet with Zelensky for the first time on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the U.N., and a House intelligence committee hearing on Thursday will focus on the dispute. The Senate intelligence committee also plans a closed-door hearing.
The administration temporarily withheld a $250 million aid package to Ukraine this summer, and critics suggested that Trump may have held up the aid as leverage to convince Zelensky to investigate Biden. Trump denied that on Monday.
"I did not make a statement that you have to do this or I'm not going to give you aid," Trump said.
But his denial left a loophole, saying it was appropriate for him to discuss "corruption" with beneficiaries of U.S. aid and he accused Biden of causing corruption.
"When Biden does a thing like that, then there's still corruption, and that's not good," he said.
Trump has lashed out at the media, political opponents and the still-unidentified whistle-blower who first complained about Trump's conduct.
"Is he on our Country's side. Where does he come from," Trump tweeted Monday about the whistle-blower.
Biden said Trump was abusing power in the White House and trying to cover up his misbehavior with a political smear.
"Trump's doing this because he knows I'll beat him like a drum and is using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me," he told reporters in Iowa on Saturday.
