Trump criticises Iran

• Trump says his main objective is to protect American sovereignty
• Praises N Korea's Kim for halting nuclear and missile tests

US President Donald Trump yesterday criticised Iran as a "corrupt dictatorship" that is plundering the Iranian people to pay for aggression abroad, using his speech to the United Nations General Assembly to lay down a tough message for Tehran.

"Iran's leaders sow chaos, death and destruction," Trump told the annual gathering. "They do not respect their neighbours or borders or the sovereign rights of nations."

Trump compared US relations with Iran to what he called improved ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, praising him for halting nuclear and missile tests and returning some US remains from the 1950s Korean War. Trump had called Kim a "rocket man" bent on nuclear destruction in his UN speech last year.

Trump used his speech to call for international trade reforms and insist that his main objective as president is to protect American sovereignty. He called on OPEC to stop raising oil prices and criticised China's trade practices.

And Trump prompted some murmuring from the crowd of world leaders and diplomats when he declared that he had accomplished more as president than almost any other administration in history.

"I didn't expect that reaction, but that's okay," he said.

But Trump's main message was aimed at Iran and attempting to drive a wedge between its leadership and its people, days after an attack in southwestern Iran on a military parade killed 25 people and unsettled the country.

In remarks to reporters on his way to his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said he would not meet the Iranians until they "change their tune."

Both Trump and Rouhani were attending the annual UN event.

"Iran has acted very badly," said Trump. "We look forward to having a great relationship with Iran, but it won't happen now."

Foes for decades, Washington and Tehran have been increasingly at odds since May, when the Republican US president pulled out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and announced sanctions against the OPEC member.

The accord, negotiated under Democratic US President Barack Obama, lifted most international sanctions against Tehran in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program.

Over the summer, Trump had said he would meet with Rouhani without preconditions to negotiate a new deal, an offer reiterated on Sunday by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and extended to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

Rouhani said on Monday Tehran would not talk to Trump until the United States returned to the 2015 deal.

The top adviser to Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, rejected the US offer yesterday, saying "Trump's and Pompeo's dream would never come to reality," the IRNA news agency said.