President Donald Trump offered a critical message in his address to the United Nations General Assembly.
He said the body has “tremendous potential” but has failed to live up to it, often issuing “empty words” that don’t solve wars.
Trump claimed he has been instrumental in ending seven conflicts, including wars between Israel and Iran and between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"It's too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them," President Trump said. "And sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them."
He noted, however, that the war between Ukraine and Russia has been harder to solve. He said he thought it would be the easiest because of his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump said the war is making Russia look bad because the conflict has dragged on for years and thousands of soldiers are being killed every week. He also criticized countries for buying oil from Russia, which he said is helping fund the war.
"I can tell you that they have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia," he said. "Otherwise, we're all wasting a lot of time."
Trump asserted that the U.S. was "fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs" against Russia to help stop the war, but added that European nations need to take a similar stance.
It wasn’t just wars where Trump faulted the U.N. He also lambasted countries for their immigration and climate change policies.
"Your nations are being ruined," President Trump said, referring to mass migration.
"The UN is supposed to stop invasions, not create them, and not finance them," he added.
Trump also criticized past predictions about climate change, claiming the goalposts keep moving. Despite scientific evidence that climate change is real, he called it the "greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world."
"All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong," Trump said.
He ended his hour-long speech by telling nations they need to be "champions for their people" like those who came before, adding, "protecting the nations that they built belongs to each and every one of us."