Donald Trump has been accused of 'hate speech' after he used his first major address at the United Nations to heavily criticise fellow members.
The US President singled out North Korea, Iran and Venezuela for specific criticism, labelling them 'rogue states' and calling on 'the righteous many' to 'confront the wicked few'.
The bombastic speech to the UN's general assembly in New York was greeted with a number of disapproving murmurs from delegates and several members states rounded on Trump afterwards.
Iran's foreign minister Javid Zarif accused the President of 'ignorant hate speech' which he said belonged in 'medieval times' and not at the UN.
Trump's ignorant hate speech belongs in medieval times-not the 21st Century UN -unworthy of a reply. Fake empathy for Iranians fools no one.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) 19 September 2017 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">This comes after Trump labelled Iran 'a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy' and said their 'chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos'.
North Korea has yet to respond after Trump reserved his most severe criticism for the pariah state. Attacking leader Kim Jong-un, he said: 'Rocket man is on a suicide mission.'
In the most overt threat of war so far, Trump said: 'If [the US] is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.'
The speech, heavily criticised for its tone and it's insistence on 'America first', also attacked Venezuela calling the government a 'socialist dictatorship'.
He said: 'The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented but that socialism has been faithfully implemented.'
But the country's foreign minister Jorge Arreaza rejected Trump's 'threats'.
He said: 'Trump is not the president of the world... he can not even manage his own government.'
But the address won praise from Trump's evangelical supporters as well as a handful of world leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Franklin Graham, a loyal Trump fan, said it 'may have been one of the best speeches ever given' at the UN.
'Thank God we have a president who stands for truth and is not afraid to speak truth to the whole world,' he wrote on social media. 'President Donald J. Trump's address today to the United Nations General Assembly may have been one of the best speeches ever given to that body. It made you proud to be an American. I hope you will join me in praying for this man, that God will guide and direct him.'
