At UN, Trump to face questions about Iran, Ukraine, allies

Faced with growing tumult at home and abroad, President Donald Trump heads into his three-day visit to the United Nations this week hoping to lean on strained alliances while fending off questions about whether he sought foreign help to damage a political rival.

Trump's latest U.N. trip comes after nearly three years of an "America First" foreign policy that has unsettled allies and shredded multinational pacts.

A centerpiece of this year's U.N. schedule will be a Monday session on climate change that Trump plans to skip.

Instead, he will address a meeting about the persecution of religious minorities, particularly Christians, an issue that resonates with Trump's evangelical supporters.

The president arrived in New York on Sunday against a backdrop of swirling international tensions, including questions about his relationship with Ukraine, the uncertain future of Brexit, the U.S. trade war with China, stalled nuclear negotiations with North Korea and a weakening global economy.

The most immediate challenge may be Iran.

Trump will try to convince skeptical global capitals to help build a coalition to confront Tehran after the United States blamed it for last week's strike at a Saudi Arabia oil field.

"Well, I always like a coalition," Trump said Friday, before going on to complain that under the old Iran nuclear deal, "everyone else is making money and we're not."
"The attacks last weekend in Saudi Arabia are precisely the kind of thing that the U.N. was intended to address, to create rules for international behavior and opportunities for collective action."