Trump backs two-state solution for Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Comments made by the president have fuelled speculation about the level of his commitment to a two-state solution, which past USA governments have advocated since the peace process began in the 1990s.

"We don't want them to meddle or interfere in our upcoming election", he said.

Trump's meeting with Netanyahu came, symbolically, just ahead of his chairing a meeting of the U.N. Security Council about nuclear proliferation.

"Any individual or entity who fails to comply with these sanctions will face severe consequences", the president told representatives at the Security Council meeting.

After accusing China of seeking to undermine his administration, Trump said it "has been a pleasure and an honor" to work with Xi, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in attempts to broker peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The US congressional mid-terms are due to be held on 6 November.

US intelligence officials have said previously that other nations could opt to try and copy Russia's playbook of meddling in the 2016 USA presidential election.

There are concerns that the November elections could also be vulnerable. "They are absolutely coming back to the table", he said.

At the meeting, he defended his administration's decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and blasted what he called a "horrible, one-sided deal [that] allowed Iran to continue its path toward a [nuclear] bomb and gave the regime a cash lifeline when they needed it the most".

He branded the country the "world's leading sponsor of terror" fuelling "conflict around the region and far beyond".

He added: "We did not and will not interfere in any countries' domestic affairs".

Mr Trump told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that Iran's "sow chaos, death and destruction", and does not respect its neighbours or borders or the sovereign rights of nations.

On Tuesday, Trump had extended "special thanks" to Xi for support of US efforts to get North Korea to commit to denuclearization.

The two leaders met in a landmark summit in Singapore in June 2018. "I would say over the next two to three to four months that would be the time that I would like to release the plan", Trump said, when pressed for a time frame.

He also condemned violence in the ongoing bloody civil war in Syria, saying that the "butchery is enabled by Russian Federation and Iran".

Trump also repeated his insistence that his decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem removed a major stumbling block to negotiations, even though his own advisers have insisted the move did not prejudge the boundaries of Jerusalem or a future Palestinian state. "Israel got the first chip and it's a big one".

Mr Trump's speech to the United Nations was met with ripples of laughter from world leaders when he opened with: "In less than two years my administration has accomplished more than nearly any administration in the history of our country".