President Trump and American officials clarified their policy in a range of hot spots: North Korea, Syria, Iran, Israel and China. Oh, and Canada.
WASHINGTON — This week’s gathering of the annual United Nations General Assembly was dominated by President Trump.
He emphasized his “America First” vision in his speech to the assembly and at a rambling news conference the next day. In smaller meetings, he touched on global issues that continue to vex the United States and other nations — from North Korea’s nuclear program to election interference by foreign powers. And he shrugged off laughter from other world leaders at his typically boastful words.
“I was struck by how he wanted to use this audience and this opportunity to reject some of the key tenets of global multilateralism,” said Dafna Rand, a former State Department official who is now vice president for policy and research at Mercy Corps, a humanitarian aid organization.
“He was using this speech to reject the very premise of the U. N.,” she said.
Between espousing those ideas, Mr. Trump and his senior administration officials detailed specific policy positions and gave a clearer view into how the United State is grappling with some big dilemmas. Here are five takeaways on their vision of United States foreign policy, as presented at the world body’s summit meeting.
The United States military mission in Syria is changing. The Pentagon has 2,000 troops in eastern Syria, with a stated purpose of fighting the Islamic State. The Islamic State is a much weaker force than it was just a year ago, and American commanders could soon order Special Operations troops or other military units to focus on other armed groups — namely Iranian government forces and militias supported by Iran.
On Monday, John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, said American forces would stay in Syria as long as Iran maintained a military presence there. Iran and Russia are the two main allies of the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, so it is unlikely Iran will withdraw its military units anytime soon.
And so neither will the United States, Mr. Bolton said.
“We’re not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders, and that includes Iranian proxies and militias,” Mr. Bolton told reporters in New York.
After Mr. Bolton made his remarks, Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, told journalists at the Pentagon that American troops in Syria remained focused on the Islamic State.
“Right now, our troops inside Syria are there for one purpose, and that’s under the U. N. authorization about defeating ISIS,” Mattis said. “Our troops are there for that one purpose.”
But Mr. Mattis added that the troops would not leave as soon as the Islamic State was defeated because that could lead to instability.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw American troops and is wary of United States involvement in open-ended wars. On Thursday, James F. Jeffrey, the senior American diplomat on Syria, told reporters that Mr. Trump “wants us in Syria” until the departure of the Iranian military and their proxies, among other conditions.
But, Mr. Jeffrey said, confronting Iran does not necessarily mean “boots on the ground.”
Mr. Trump’s three top foreign policy officials — Mr. Bolton, Mr. Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — support a broad United States strategy to contain Iranian military activity across the region.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, Federica Mogherini, said this week that the European bloc, China and Russia are working with Iran to set up a special payments system that will allow the countries to avoid economic sanctions that the Trump administration seeks to impose on Iran.
