President Trump unleashed a political attack on the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, during his address at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, appearing to falsely claim that Mr. Khan wanted to put Britain’s capital under Islamic religious law.
“I look at London where you have a terrible mayor, a terrible, terrible mayor,” the president said. “It’s been so changed, so changed. Now they want to go to Shariah law, but you’re in a different country; you can’t do that.”
While Mr. Trump used the word “they” without specifying whom that referred to, his words echoed a conspiracy theory focused on Mr. Khan and his Muslim faith that has long been circulated by the far right and that has been linked to death threats against the mayor.
In a statement after Mr. Trump’s speech, Mr. Khan’s office said it would not “dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response” but added, “London is the greatest city in the world, safer than major U.S. cities, and we’re delighted to welcome the record number of U.S. citizens moving here.”
Britain’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, rejected the claim that Mr. Khan was seeking to impose Shariah law on London. He wrote on X that the mayor had marched at official Pride parades in London and said Mr. Kahn “stands up for differences of background and opinion.” He added, “Proud he’s our Mayor.”
Mr. Khan, who represents Britain’s center-left Labour Party, in 2016 became the first Muslim to be elected mayor of London. He has since won two more mayoral elections and has the largest personal mandate of any British politician.
Mr. Trump’s comments at the General Assembly were the latest chapter in a long-running public feud between the two that began in 2015, when Mr. Khan called Mr. Trump’s campaign pledge to bar Muslims from entering the United States “outrageous.”
In a newspaper article published on the eve of Mr. Trump’s state visit to Britain last week, Mr. Khan accused the president of “fanning the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world.”
While flying back to the United States, Mr. Trump claimed he had asked that Mr. Khan be kept from the state dinner hosted by King Charles III, adding, “I’ve not liked him for a long time.”
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