By TheArabWeekly | Source

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he hoped an end to the war against Iran was near and a media report separately said he is expected to meet Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to discuss the conflict.

His comments come with the Iran war in its seventh month and with no immediate end in sight.

Axios reported late on Wednesday Trump’s meeting with Gulf leaders next week in New York is expected to focus on US plans for a postwar strategy.

The report cited unnamed sources. It added that Trump will meet with leaders or foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

The State Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

“Well, hopefully we are towards the end of the war,” Trump told reporters earlier in the evening.

“They want to make a deal. We’ll see how that works out,” he said on Iran, reiterating past comments. Trump also said he had heard from Iran “directly,” without elaborating.

As diplomatic contacts continued beyond the US-Iran channel, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate telephone calls with Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday to discuss regional developments, Iranian media reported.

Araghchi spoke with Munir while visiting Beijing, with the two discussing the latest regional developments and issues of mutual interest. He also held a separate call with Fidan on regional updates and matters of mutual interest, according to Iranian media.

Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the war that began on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Trump has cited weakening Iran’s nuclear capabilities as one of his war objectives. Iran does not have nuclear weapons and says its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes. The US is nuclear-armed.

The rise in oil and gas prices due to the US-Israeli war on Iran has become a major issue for Trump’s Republican Party in the lead-up to the November midterm elections.

Number of ships transiting Hormuz falls to three

Commodity vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz dwindled to just three ships on Wednesday, down from 12 a day earlier and well below the 10-day average of about 17, preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Thursday.

The figures exclude any vessels that might have passed through the waterway with their Automatic Identification System transponders turned off to avoid detection.

Of the three vessels, an empty Supramax dry bulk ship entered the strait via the Iranian route, while an empty petroleum product tanker entered through a dark route, shipping data from Kpler showed at 0445 GMT.

A Panamax tanker exited the waterway using a dark route, the data showed.

Vessel traffic dropped this week as war in the Gulf intensified. Saudi Arabian warplanes pounded Yemen and Houthi fighters launched drones and missiles at Saudi cities.

The Iran-backed Houthis’ rapid advance in Yemen along the Red Sea coast, attacks on Saudi Arabia and damage to the kingdom’s East-West oil pipeline have widened Tehran’s reach in the conflict and raised risks to global oil supplies.

In the Red Sea, vessel crossings through the Bab al-Mandab Strait eased to 21 on Wednesday, compared with 24 vessels a day earlier.

Yemen warns of Houthi assurances to US

The developments come as Yemen’s foreign minister Afrah al-Zouba warned against what she described as misleading Houthi “reassurances” being used to buy time, build up weapons and prepare for new attacks inside and outside Yemen.

In a telephone call with US embassy chargé d’affaires Neil Hop on Wednesday, Zouba warned that the Houthis were seeking to entrench their control over Yemen’s western coast and the Bab al-Mandab strait as a fait accompli, which she said could be used to pressure regional countries and threaten global trade. The Yemeni foreign ministry said she also stressed the need for a united international position in support of the government and Yemen’s sovereignty.

Al-Zouba said the escalation by the Iran-aligned group represented a strategic threat extending beyond Yemen’s borders and endangered regional and international security, as well as the safety of shipping and global trade. She called for political positions to be translated into effective measures to halt the flow of Iranian weapons, financing and military expertise to the Houthis.

Hop condemned Houthi attacks and what he described as threats to Yemen, the region and international shipping, while reaffirming Washington’s support for the Yemeni government and people, according to the ministry.

The warning followed Reuters reporting that US officials had met Houthi representatives at the US Embassy in Muscat over the weekend, in a previously undisclosed meeting that was reportedly facilitated by Oman. Five sources familiar with the talks said the meeting came days after the Houthis seized a strategic stretch of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline in an offensive that routed Saudi-backed forces.

According to two sources, Houthi representatives told US officials they did not intend to attack American vessels and remained committed to the 2025 ceasefire with Washington. A Yemeni source also said the group pledged not to attack Israeli ships or other commercial vessels, with the exception of Saudi vessels.

The State Department did not confirm the meeting, but said safeguarding freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing the export of terrorism from the Middle East were core US interests.