US confident of ‘some sort of breakthrough’ on Gaza
NEW YORK: The United States is “hopeful even confident that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough” on the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, said US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
He said President Donald Trump’s 21-point peace plan had been presented to some leaders on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The report came after the selected leaders from Arab League and OIC, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, issued a joint statement in which they detailed the points raised before Trump.
Read more: Muslim leaders for Gaza ceasefire, reconstruction, stabilisation
Earlier, leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan participated in Tuesday’s meeting, co-hosted by the US and Qatar.
Read more: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia sign mutual defence agreement
IRAN ‘IN A TOUGH POSITION’
Talking about Iran, Witkoff said “Iran is in a tough position”.
Replying to a question about any possibility of diplomatic solution, he said, “We are talking to them” and “We have a desire to negotiate with Iran”.
Also on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in his address to the UN General Assembly said Iran has no intention of building nuclear weapons, just days before international sanctions could be reimposed on his country over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek nuclear weapons.”
Meanwhile, Pezeshkian also talked about the “sponsors” of Israel and the desire to use naked force.
In this connection, he said Israel and “its sponsors no longer even content themselves with normalisation through political means. Rather, they impose their presence through naked force, and have styled it peace through strength”.
Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron told his Iranian counterpart that a deal was possible to avoid UN sanctions but that only hours were left.
“An agreement remains possible. Only a few hours are left. It’s up to Iran to respond to the legitimate issues we have raised,” Macron wrote on X after meeting Pezeshkian at the United Nations.
It’s a developing story. Details to follow.
