Guterres warns of ‘unimaginable’ consequences of Iran-Gulf escalation
UN Chief Antonio Guterres has warned of devastating consequences from any military escalation involving Iran and Gulf nations. Egypt’s Foreign Minister says Cairo is in daily contact with Tehran, Washington, and regional partners to prevent another full-scale military clash.
Iran has “substantially increased” its efforts to target Americans in the Middle East and beyond, US national intelligence chief Jay Clayton warned on Friday. Washington previously ordered non-essential staff to leave the Gulf ahead of the start of its war against Iran and again in July before US President Donald Trump called off a new wave of strikes.
Iran said on Saturday that US military ships would never be allowed to enter the Gulf “under any circumstances” and President Donald Trump will “take that dream to his grave”. “We will not allow US military ships in the Persian Gulf under any circumstances and at any time,” said Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi, according to Iranian state television.
The next fortnight sees two elections on different continents. The outcomes will shape geopolitics and the global economy, writes James Landale
Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey travel to Tehran as bellicose rhetoric heightens High-level diplomatic delegations from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have travelled to Tehran in an attempt to prevent renewed fighting between Iran and the US and Israel as rhetoric sharpens on both sides. Security officials and diplomats at Monday’s meeting were expected to discuss how Iran could persuade the Houthis in Yemen to end their crippling missile and drone attacks on infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
To summarise: the most powerful, nuclear-armed states – the US, China and Russia – are led by unscrupulous, self-dealing “strongmen”, each of whom is playing with the nationalist “Great Again” politics epitomised by Trump. Democracy is being rolled back around the world, and even bastions of liberalism such as the UK, France and Germany seem vulnerable to takeover by the Putin-friendly far right.
The deputy secretary-general of UN's ICT agency says unequal access to AI means poorer nations may be left behind.