Mideast Leaders Converge on UN as Regional Wars Dominate Agenda

Leaders from across the Middle East are converging on New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly, with three years of unrelenting regional conflict set to dominate the proceedings.

The wars between the United States and Iran, renewed fighting in Yemen, and ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon are all expected to feature prominently. President Donald Trump, who has spent more than six months searching for an endgame to the Iran war, is scheduled to meet Gulf Arab leaders but is not expected to hold talks with Israel's prime minister.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian adopted a defiant tone before departing Tehran, accusing Washington of trying "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." He said Iran is wary of another round of negotiations, noting the country has twice been attacked by the U.S. and Israel during active talks.

The Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday urged Iran and its allied groups to stop attacks on Arab Gulf states and to allow free transit through two critical maritime chokepoints. Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, who heads the council, said disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have unsettled oil markets and global supply chains, producing "worldwide fallout." He spoke during a meeting with Swiss officials on the sidelines of the assembly. Iran has said its strikes on U.S. bases in the region were a response to American and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also traveling to New York, though for a visit of less than 24 hours and without a meeting with Trump, who is due in Washington for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Netanyahu, who launched the Iran war alongside the U.S. on Feb. 28, faces reelection at the end of October. He has long highlighted his close ties with Trump, but that relationship appears to be fraying as the conflict drags on, and a White House meeting could have boosted his standing before the vote. His speech at the UN on Thursday is expected to draw protests both inside and outside the building.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeated calls in media interviews for the federal government to arrest Netanyahu during his visit. An arrest is considered unlikely, as neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of the International Criminal Court, and Trump has imposed sanctions on court staff in a campaign to dismantle the tribunal.

In Yemen, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said at least seven people, including two children and a woman, were killed in airstrikes Tuesday on the port city of Mokha, which the Iranian-backed Houthis captured earlier this month. The strikes came hours after the internationally recognized government accused the Houthis of attacking an open public market in Lahj province, near the center of fighting on the western coast. Clashes between the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces have reignited Yemen's civil war and led to attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Foreign ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. called on Iran to stop supporting the Houthis, describing their actions as "a dangerous pattern of escalation that risks further exacerbating the conflict, undermining international trade and creating global economic instability."

Separately, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed Baghdad's efforts to disarm the country's militia network on the assembly sidelines. Al-Zaidi's office said he "reiterated the government's determination to fulfill its sovereign responsibilities and move forward with measures to ensure that all arms remain under state authority." The State Department said the two "agreed on the importance of Iraq dismantling terrorist militias, preventing attacks from Iraqi territory, and fully exercising its sovereignty." Al-Zaidi initially set Sept. 30 as the deadline for non-state groups to disarm but has since pushed it back after some of the country's most powerful Iran-backed militias said they would not give up their weapons.