Iran ‘wary’ of fresh US talks as Middle East wars loom over UN General Assembly
Middle Eastern leaders have gathered this week for the United Nations General Assembly in New York as three years of wars across the region show no signs of letting up.
The conflict between the US and Iran, the latest fighting in Yemen, and Israel’s wars with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon are expected to be high on the agenda.
US President Donald Trump, who has struggled to find an endgame to the Iran war after more than six months, is set to meet with Gulf Arab leaders but not with Israel’s prime minister.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a defiant note as he boarded a plane from Tehran to New York for the General Assembly, accusing the US of doing “everything they can to block every possible route in order to force our nation and our people to surrender, because they were unable to do that through military means”.
Mr Pezeshkian added that Iran is wary of another round of talks, having twice been attacked by the US and Israel during active negotiations.
The regional Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday called for Iran and its allied groups to cease their attacks on Arab Gulf states and allow free transit through two crucial maritime checkpoints, according to a statement from the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, the council’s head, said disruptions to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have rattled oil markets and supply chains worldwide, triggering “worldwide fallout”.
Iran has said it attacked US bases in the region as part of its response to the US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.
Mr AlBudaiwi made the comments in a meeting with Swiss officials on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly.
Mr Trump is expected to meet representatives from the council on Tuesday in New York.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the Iran war along with the US on February 28, is also heading to New York for a brief trip, but is not expected to meet with Mr Trump.
Mr Netanyahu will be in New York for less than 24 hours, during which time Mr Trump is scheduled to be in Washington for a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Mr Netanyahu is up for re-election at the end of October.
In the past, he has boasted of his close ties with Mr Trump, but that relationship appears to be deteriorating as the war drags on.
A meeting with Mr Trump could have bolstered Mr Netanyahu’s image ahead of the vote.
Mr Netanyahu’s speech at the UN on Thursday is expected to garner protests, both inside and outside of the UN.
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani reiterated calls in media interviews for the US federal government to arrest Mr Netanyahu while he is visiting New York.
An arrest is unlikely since the US and Israel are not members of the International Criminal Court and Mr Trump has put sanctions on court staffers in a campaign to dismantle it.
Mr Netanyahu accused Mr Mamdani of “inciting violence against New York Jews”.
Meanwhile, the Houthi-run Health Ministry in Yemen said at least six people, including two children and a woman, were killed in airstrikes Tuesday in the port city of Mokha, which the Iranian-backed Houthis captured earlier this month.
The strikes came hours after the internationally recognised government accused the Houthis of attacking an open public market in the province of Lahj, close to the epicentre of fighting on the western coast.
Fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces has reignited Yemen’s civil war and led to attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US called on Iran to stop supporting the Houthis.
“Their reprehensible actions constitute a dangerous pattern of escalation that risks further exacerbating the conflict, undermining international trade and creating global economic instability,” the ministers said ahead of the UN General Assembly.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
