Qatar pushes Gulf diplomacy as regional crises dominate UNGA opening

Qatar called for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened and negotiations to resume, as wars across the Middle East dominated the opening day of the 81st United Nations General Assembly’s general debate in New York.Addressing world leaders on Tuesday, Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani warned that the Gulf crisis was disrupting the global economy and affecting people far removed from the conflict. “This is a crisis that drives up the prices of food and medicine and affects the livelihoods of people who have nothing to do with any of this,” Sheikh Tamim said from the podium of the UNGA.Despite developments he said “could have been avoided,” the Amir stressed that diplomacy could still deliver security for the entire region, including Iran.Palestine also featured prominently in his address. The Amir said there could be no just international order while Palestine remained its “blind spot,” describing the situation in Gaza as “genocide in every sense of the word”.Amir Sheikh Tamim called on Israel to fully implement the ceasefire agreement by ending military operations, withdrawing from Gaza, lifting the blockade, and allowing aid to enter without conditions.“Either the law applies equally to everyone, or it loses its meaning when it is enforced against the weak while the powerful are exempted,” Sheikh Tamim said.Trump defends war against IranU.S. President Donald Trump defended Washington’s war against Iran and presented Tehran with a choice between reaching an agreement and facing further destruction.Trump claimed U.S. military operations had destroyed Iran’s nuclear programme and navy, while asking whether a deal would allow the country to rebuild or whether Washington would “annihilate the Islamic Republic”.Despite the threat, he predicted an agreement would be reached after the U.S. midterm elections.Trump also said the U.S. Navy had escorted more than one billion barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz and claimed Washington had ended the war in Gaza and returned all remaining Israeli captives.Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered a contrasting message, warning that Hormuz had become a battleground when it should have remained a vital route for international trade.“There will be no winners on the battlefield. Diplomacy is the only option,” Lula said.Guterres warns of widening divisionsOpening the general debate, UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that the world’s “fault lines” were widening and that existing cracks had become “canyons.”In his final General Assembly address before leaving office, Guterres presented war, inequality, climate change and artificial intelligence as interconnected tests of how global power is exercised.He defended a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel, called for Security Council reform by saying “the power of law must prevail over the law of power.”Regional leaders focus on GazaJordan’s King Abdullah II described Gaza and the occupied West Bank as “two fronts of the same Israeli strategy,” arguing that destruction and de facto annexation were being used to prevent a viable Palestinian state. He called for stronger measures against Israel, including sanctions and diplomatic isolation.Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described Gaza as “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time” and warned against applying international law differently to powerful and weaker states.Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita similarly said peace required a viable Palestinian state. He confirmed Morocco’s participation in the International Stabilization Force in Gaza and expressed concern over violence in the West Bank and violations at Al Aqsa Mosque.The first day placed Gaza, Gulf security and the credibility of international law at the centre of the debate, while exposing sharp differences over whether diplomacy or further military pressure could end the region’s wars.