United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called for the resumption of “serious negotiations” to end the war in the Middle East. As he emphasized, this crisis “does not have a military solution”, reports TASR according to the AFP report.
Guterres also told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that international freedom of navigation must be respected by “all parties” in the Strait of Hormuz. “There is no military solution to this crisis. Peace agreements require sustained commitment and political will. Serious negotiations must resume,” he said.
As he pointed out, the cease-fire between the United States and Iran “must be preserved” thus alluding to a two-week ceasefire agreed to by both sides of the conflict last Wednesday. American and Iranian delegations held talks in Pakistan’s Islamabad over the weekend, but failed to reach an agreement. US President Donald Trump hinted to the New York Post on Tuesday that a second round of talks could take place in Pakistan “within the next two days”.
On Tuesday, the UN Secretary General welcomed the beginning of the first direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in decades – of the dialogue taking place in Washington. However, the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, which is fighting against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, does not agree with him.
“No one expects that these talks today will solve all the problems, but I think it will be very important if these talks create the conditions to change the way actors have developed their activities,” Guterres said. “It is true that Hezbollah and Israel have always helped each other in destabilizing the Lebanese government,” he noted.
Guterres also called for broader diplomatic efforts, “restraint and responsibility”, as well as respect for international law, which, according to him, has been “trampled” around the world. At the same time, the UN Secretary General warned that “injustice begets chaos”, suffering and destruction.
