Donald Trump insisted in a speech addressing global 'Islamic extremism' that Muslim leaders must scare would-be terrorists into submission, warning them about the impact suicide bombings will have on their immortal souls.

'Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear: Barbarism will deliver you no glory – piety to evil will bring you no dignity,' Trump said in a sumptuous Saudi ballroom that put Mar-a-Lago to shame.

'If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be fully condemned,' he said.

'Heroes don't kill innocents,' a confident Trump declared at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh. 'They save them.'

The president urged 55 world leaders from Arab and other Muslim nations to 'drive out' terrorists from every corner of their lives – including mosques – in a zero-tolerance approach that lines up with his 2016 campaign rhetoric.

'Drive them out!' he said. 'Drive them out of your places of worship, Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy lands, and drive them out of this earth,' he trumpeted.

President Trump told terrorists that 'if you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be fully condemned'

'Muslim-majority countries must take the lead in combating radicalization,' Trump said in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in his first speech abroad as president

Trump urged nations to 'cut off the financial channels that let ISIS sell oil, let extremists pay their fighters and help terrorists smuggle their reinforcements. We must stop what they're doing to inspire, because they do nothing to inspire but kill'

Trump's speech in Saudi Arabia on fighting Mid-East terrorism was delivered to 55 leaders from Arab and other Islamic countries

Tea servers at the summit watched Trump's speech from inside the cavernous hall

Trump's performance was forceful at times but largely a cautious, measured and presidential-sounding effort, raising his voice only once.

'With God's help this summit will mark the beginning of the end for those who practice terror and spread its vile creed,' the president said.

Trump insisted that fighting terrorism is 'a battle between good and evil,' not between 'different faiths, different sects, or different civilizations.'

'Terrorists do not worship God. They worship death,' Trump declared. 'If we do not act against this organized terror, then we know what will happen and what will be the end result.'

He predicted that in the absence of multi-nation commitments to action, 'peaceful societies will be engulfed by violence, and the futures of many generations will be sadly squandered.'

And if the world doesn't unite to fight ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups, he said, 'not only will we be judged by our people, not only will we be judged by history, we will be judged by God.'

The president's daughter Ivanka Trump listened as the commander-in-chief outlined his positions on terrorism

Trump arrived in the afternoon to speak to a summit of Gulf Cooperation Council leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

King Salman of Saudi Arabia said the way to heaven is to 'promote the tolerant values of Islam, which are based in peace and moderation'

Trump (center-left), Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud (center-right), Jordan's King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other officials posed for a group photo during the Arabic Islamic American Summit at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh on Sunday

Trump said Middle Eastern nations 'can't wait' for the U.S. to solve the terror problem for them.

'Muslim-majority countries must take the lead in combating radicalization,' he said.

Trump took pains to isolate Iran in his speech, saying the Islamic republican is spreading 'destruction and chaos' throughout the Middle East and gives terrorists 'safe harbor, financial backing and the social standing needed for recruitment.'

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, too, declared on Sunday that 'the Iranian regime has been the spearhead of global terrorism.'

Trump called defeating global terrorism 'history's great test,' as he urged summit attendees to 'vanquish the forces that terrorism brings with it every single time.'

'Young Muslim boys and girls should be able to grow up free from fear, safe from violence and innocent from hatred,' Trump said.

With God's help this summit will mark the beginning of the end for those who practice terror and spread its vile creed. Donald Trump

Still, the president shied away from referring specifically to 'radical Islamic terrorism,' a phrase he lambasted both his predecessor Barack Obama and his election opponent Hillary Clinton for avoiding.

Instead he said prevailing 'means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism and the Islamists, and Islamic terror of all kinds.'

The White House's prepared remarks were different, citing 'Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups it inspires.'

'Islamist' is a term meant to apply more to governments and movements than to individuals motivated by religion to sow chaos.

A senior White House official later explained the president's teleprompter-reading error, saying he was 'just an exhausted guy.'

First lady Melania Trump listened to her husband's forceful plea for a no-tolerance approach to Islamic terrorism throughout the Middle East

The speech was delivered in a sumptuous room equipped with theater chairs, massive crystal chandeliers and translation earpieces for everyone present

The seats are theatre-style captain's chairs and the ceiling is adorned with geometric art; Trump and King Salman sat behind ornately decorated desks before the speech

WHAT ABOUT 9/11? Donald Trump has attracted some criticism in the past week for making Saudi Arabia the first stop of his inaugural foreign trip as president. The Saudis have long been suspected of providing the financing and safe harbor required to pull off the 9/11 terror attacks that hit New York and Washington. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. Fifteen of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, and three had histories of employment with the oil-rich kingdom. At the time of the attacks in 2001, Saudi Arabia funding Muslim radicalism in mosques and charities, according to a batch of 28 recently declassified pages from the U.S. 9/11 Commission's official report. Additionally, a Saudi who was on Prince Bandar bin Sultan's payroll reportedly told an FBI informant that it would be useless for the U.S. to limit entry visas because there were already several Muslims in the country to destroy it and create an Islamic state. Families of 800 victims and 1,500 first responders sued Saudi Arabia two months ago. The lawsuit alleges that officials of Saudi embassies helped hijackers Salem Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar for more than a year before they put their plan into action. The officials allegedly helped them learn English and obtain credit cards and cash, and taught them how to blend in with American culture. Officials at the Saudi embassy in Germany also reportedly supported the lead hijacker Mohamed Atta. The declassified findings are ultimately inconclusive about whether the Saudi government was involved in funding and planning the 9/11 attacks. 'On the one hand,' the report notes, 'it is possible that these kinds of connections could suggest ... incontrovertible evidence that there is support for these terrorists with the Saudi Government.' But on the other hand, the report hedges, 'it is also possible that further investigation of these allegations could reveal legitimate, and innocent, explanations for these associations.' Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said last year that some Americans may be unpersuadable. 'There are still people in the U.S. and around the world who don't think the moon landing took place,' he said in Washington during a July 2016 speech. 'So it doesn't matter how persuasive one can be in order to convince people of it,' Jubeir said. 'But we have the facts, and the facts points to one direction, and the facts are very clear.' Advertisement

'This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it,' Trump said, reading from teleprompters.

King Salman seemed to agree with Trump's most aggressive and foreboding statement – that jihadi terrorists place their souls at risk.

'Our way to achieve the goals of our religion and win everlasting life in heaven is to promote the tolerant values of Islam, which are based in peace and moderation,' he said in introducing Trump from behind a desk onstage.

'There is no honor in committing murder,' he said through a translator. 'Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance. ... it considers killing an innocent soul tantamount to killing all of humanity.'

Salman called on Gulf Cooperation Council leaders to 'reject extremism, work on fighting all forms of terrorism, stop its financing and its propagation, dry up its sources, and stand firm in confronting this scourge that poses a danger to all of humanity.'

And he pledged to prosecute terrorists and terror financing, to 'eradicate' the ISIS terror army 'and other terrorist organizations regardless of their religious, sect or ideology.'

Trump was greeted by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (left) on Sunday for a speech that will not demand broad cultural or political changes in exchange for U.S. support in the war on terror

Trump's first trip abroad as president began with two days in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, hosted by King Salman

President Trump spoke before the GCC members at an Arab Islamic American Summit event in Riyadh, telling them that 'every time a terrorist murders an innocent person, and falsely invokes the name of God, it should be an insult to every person of faith.'

There is no honor in committing murder. Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance . Saudi King Salman

He insisted that heads of state begin 'standing together against the murder of innocent Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews, and the slaughter of Christians.'

But Trump didn't demand that nations embrace broad cultural or political changes as a condition of working with the United States.

'Our friends will never question our support, and our enemies will never doubt our determination. Our partnerships will advance security through stability, not through radical disruption,' he pledged.

Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner arrived at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh for the president's speech

'We will make decisions based on real-world outcomes – not inflexible ideology. We will be guided by the lessons of experience, not the confines of rigid thinking. And, wherever possible, we will seek gradual reforms – not sudden intervention.'

'Our goal is a coalition of nations who share the aim of stamping out extremism and providing our children a hopeful future that does honor to God,' Trump said.

TRUMP SLAPS IRAN AND SYRIA President Trump took pointed shots at Iran and Syria on Sunday: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 'From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds arms and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. 'For decades Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror. It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, "Death to America" and ruin for many of the leaders and nations in this very room. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 'Among Iran's most tragic and destabilizing interventions, you've seen it in Syria. Bolstered by Iran, Assad has committed unspeakable crimes and the United States has taken firm action in response to the use of banned chemical weapons by the Assad regime, launching 59 missiles at the Syrian airbase from where that murderous attack originated. Responsible nations must work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS and restore stability to the region as quickly as possible. 'The Iranian regime's longest suffering victims are its own people. Iran has a rich history and culture, but the people of Iran have endured hardship and despair under their leaders reckless pursuit of conflict and terror. 'Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace, all nations of conscience must work together to isolate, deny it funding for terrorism, cannot do it, and pray for the day when the Iranians people have the just and righteous government they so richly deserve.' Advertisement

His speech came just hours after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with six Persian Gulf to counter global terrorism by cracking down on people and groups who finance violent jihadis.

Trump, in his address, urged nations to 'cut off the financial channels that let ISIS sell oil, let extremists pay their fighters and help terrorists smuggle their reinforcements.'

'We must stop what they're doing to inspire, because they do nothing to inspire but kill,' he said.

'Inspire' is the English-language online propaganda magazine of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula .

The Gulf Cooperation Council nations who agreed to the measure include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the agreement's components is the establishment of a center in Riyadh to fight extremism – especially online.

White House deputy national security advisor Dina Powell told reporters in Riyadh on Sunday that the pact represents the 'farthest reaching commitment to not finance terrorist organizations,' and said the U.S. Treasury Department will monitor terror financing in Gulf states.

'The unique piece of it is that every single one of them are signatories on how they are responsible and will actually prosecute the financing of terrorism – including individuals, Powell said.

The president's two-day stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia marks just the first stage of a nine-day international trip that will see him next in Israel, and then Rome, Brussels and a small resort town in Sicily.

The agenda includes NATO and G7 meetings, along with talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and an audience with Pope Francis.

But Sunday's anti-terror speech in the Saudi kingdom was Job One, widely seen as Trump's first chance to have a global impact on a subject that helped propel him to the White House.

'We can only overcome this evil if the forces of good are united and strong – and if everyone in this room does their fair share and fulfills their part of the burden,' the president said.

'Terrorism has spread across the world. But the path to peace begins right here, on this ancient soil, in this sacred land.

'America is prepared to stand with you – in pursuit of shared interests and common security. But the nations of the Middle East cannot wait for American power to crush this enemy for them.'

Trump made waves a year and a half ago with a campaign speech in which he called for 'a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States' until measures were taken to stop terrorists at the border.

That, in combination with his 'America first' slogan and its accompanying philosophy, had a worrying ripple effect across the Arab world.

Trump's speech, largely crafted by hard-line aide Stephen Miller, highlighted the advancement of American interests while not condemning his audience's religion.

During the speech, the president (seen Sunday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan) said that terrorists must give up - or face 'condemning' their souls

Trump's America-first policies and Muslim travel ban have worried the Arab world, but his speech promised 'partnership' with Arab states 'based on shared interests and values'

'America is a sovereign nation and our first priority is always the safety and security of our citizens. We are not here to lecture – we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship,' he said.

'Instead, we are here to offer partnership – based on shared interests and values – to pursue a better future for us all.'

'I know that our time together will bring many blessings to your people and mine,' he said, announcing that he 'a message of friendship, hope and love.'

He insisted that leaders focus on 'protecting equality' in the Arab world, and cultivating a region with 'Christians, Muslims and Jews living side by side.'