US pays about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations

UNITED NATIONS — The United States has paid about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations, the U.N. said Thursday, and President Donald Trump promised more money to the financially strapped world organization.

The Trump administration's payment last week is earmarked for the U.N.'s regular operating budget, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told The Associated Press.

The U.N. has said the United States owes $2.196 billion to its regular budget, including $767 million for this year, as well as $1.8 billion to a separate budget for the far-flung U.N. peacekeeping operations.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned late last month that the world body faces ''imminent financial collapse'' unless its financial rules are overhauled or all 193 member nations pay their dues, a message clearly directed at the United States.

He said in a letter to all member nations that cash for the regular budget could run out by July, which could dramatically affect U.N. operations.

U.N. officials have said 95% of the overdue payments to the U.N.'s regular budget is from the United States.

The disclosure of the U.S. payment came as Trump convened the first meeting of the Board of Peace, a new initiative initially meant to oversee the Gaza ceasefire but whose wider ambitions under Trump many see as an attempt to rival the U.N. Security Council's role in preventing and ending conflict around the world.

At the Board of Peace meeting Thursday in Washington, Trump was much more positive than he has been in the past about the future of the United Nations, which was established on the ashes of World War II.

He said his administration was going to be working ''very closely'' with the U.N., adding, ''Someday, I won't be here — the United Nations will be.''

Trump said the Board of Peace ''is going to almost be looking over the United Nations,'' strengthening it and making sure its facilities are good and it runs properly.

''They need help, and they need help moneywise,'' the president said, never mentioning that the U.S. failure to pay its dues is a key reason for the U.N.'s financial crisis.

''We're going to help them moneywise, and we're going to make sure the United Nations is viable,'' Trump said. ''And I think it's going to eventually live up to its potential. That will be a big day.''

Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, said last week that Guterres has been in touch with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz ''for quite some time'' and that the U.N.'s controller also has been in touch with U.S. officials about the arrears.