Six big takeaways from stormy UNGA debates

Limousines whisked world leaders away from the United Nations on Friday after a week of speeches, meetings and hallway diplomacy.
While they reached no breakthroughs on the world's most intractable conflicts, talks on the Iran and Ukraine wars inched forward and global powers used the venue to debate AI risks with industry leaders.

REBOOT OF IRAN DIPLOMACY
The UN was probably most useful for facilitating the first shuttle talks between American and Iranian officials since the collapse of a ceasefire in July. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated through mediators.
The efforts must continue, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, even as Iranian and American leaders exchanged sharp words at the UNGA hall, with the US threatening to "annihilate" Iran and Iran accusing the US of a "bullying mentality."
Iranian official said Tehran was reviewing Washington's response to its proposals, which include lifting a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

UKRAINE GRAIN AND ENERGY
Rubio also held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after which he said Ukraine and Russia had both voiced an interest in a limited ceasefire involving grain and energy-related targets.
Hours after Rubio spoke on Wednesday, Lavrov addressed the Security Council meeting on Ukraine, showing no indication Russia was prepared to engage on any subject. 

AI STEALS CLIMATE'S SPOTLIGHT
Climate change — a focus of UN discussions in recent years — was largely pushed aside by debate over artificial intelligence.
The UN convened a Security Council meeting featuring OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who made an appearance in person, as well as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The industry leaders appealed for governments to work together to manage AI.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that an AI agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June, accessing public and non-public files.
US President Donald Trump, who has dismissed AI risks as a "hoax" and "sick conspiracy," told the UN he "rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control" AI, describing it as amazing while promising the US would be careful.

SURPRISE ARRIVAL
The biggest surprise arrival at the UN was Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who used her trip to hold first in-person talks with Trump.
The Venezuelan delegation's focus was on restructuring its billions of dollars in sovereign debt as it met US officials, multilateral lenders and companies.
Trump used his speech to the body dedicated to global peace to declare that in Venezuela: "to the victor belong the spoils," and called ⁠an oil deal the US signed with Caracas last month "perhaps the biggest deal ever made."

SURPRISE ABSENCE
The biggest surprise absence was the Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The US withheld his visa in a move that Sudanese and other sources said was linked to a US-backed ceasefire proposal that Khartoum has resisted.
Another notable absentee was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who addressed delegates by video and condemned US curbs on the Palestinian mission's access to the UN.

UNCERTAIN FUTURE
The cash-strapped United Nations may no longer be in "freefall," but it remains stuck in an "open-ended crisis," International Crisis Group analyst Richard Gowan said. The organisation is grappling with shrinking budgets, waning influence and mounting geopolitical conflicts.
Wars in Ukraine and Iran rage on, while Trump has denounced the 193-member body as bloated and globalist, slashed US funding and withdrawn from dozens of UN agencies.
As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres received a standing ovation after his final General Assembly speech, a small group of politicians and former UN officials lobbied publicly and behind closed doors to succeed him. His second five-year term ends on 31 December, leaving little time for the world's major powers to agree on a replacement.