West Asia leaders to gather at UNGA amid escalating wars
Leaders from across the West Asia are gathering this week for the United Nations General Assembly in New York at a time when three years of wars across the region show no signs of letting up.
The wars between the US and Iran, the latest fighting in Yemen and the ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon are all expected to be high on the agenda. 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 is not expected to meet 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.” Pezeshkian added that Iran is wary of another round of talks, having twice been attacked by the US and Israel during active negotiations.
A regional body of Arab Gulf States 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, head of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has rattled oil markets and supply chains across the world, which has “triggered 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.
AlBudaiwi made the comments in a meeting with Swiss officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Trump is expected to meet the Gulf Cooperation 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 Trump. Netanyahu will be in New York for less than 24 hours, during which time Trump is scheduled to be in Washington for a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Netanyahu is up for reelection at the end of October. In the past, he has boasted of his close ties with Trump, but that relationship appears to be deteriorating as the war drags on. A meeting with Trump could have bolstered Netanyahu’s image ahead of the elections. Netanyahu’s speech at the UN on Thursday is expected to garner protests, both inside and outside of the UN.
