Iran’s attacks on Gulf Arab states, and the threats posed by Tehran and its regional allies to vital shipping routes, have lent a fresh sense of urgency to efforts by Arab and Islamic leaders to secure lasting peace through talks with US President Donald Trump. Their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday brought together representatives of 12 countries at a time when the Gulf’s priorities were clear: end the conflict with Iran, restore regional energy security and advance the Gaza peace plan. The gathering included the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE), alongside Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkiye. Saudi Arabia was represented by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. Each of the six GCC delegates, whose countries have borne the brunt of Iranian retaliation against the joint US-Israeli attacks since the war began in late February, was no doubt keen to learn how the US planned to end the conflict and get oil flowing once again through the Hormuz and Bab Al-Mandab straits. The absence of an immediate breakthrough announcement should not obscure the potential value of the engagement, said Badr Alqahtani, senior Gulf affairs editor at the London-based, pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. “Sometimes, as observers and journalists, we forget that maybe there is some other arrangement that is taking place,” he told Arab News. “If we haven’t heard anything, it could mean that there is something very sensitive happening. So, if suddenly we hear something has happened, I would not be surprised.” Regardless, he added, “it is always positive to have this type of meeting because most of these countries, especially the Gulf countries, believe this war is not their war.” From the perspective of Gulf governments, the diplomatic effort is inextricably tied to the need to protect their populations, energy infrastructure and access to international markets from Iranian attacks and threats by Iran-backed armed groups. The meeting on Tuesday, Alqahtani said, was “only one of the major efforts that GCC countries are making to resolve this situation, because after all the military action they know they have to end up with a political solution.” He added: “The top priority for the Gulf countries is to end this war as soon as possible with a strong agreement between the US and Iran.” In his public remarks, Trump emphasized the importance of regional partnerships. It was, he said, “an honor to be here with some of America’s greatest and closest friends, allies and partners, to continue our effort toward a safer and more prosperous Middle East.” He added: “Virtually every nation in this room has been outstanding and they’ve done amazing things, and I want to express my gratitude to each of you for being strong and tough partners.” His remarks followed a UN address in which he issued a warning that he could “annihilate the Islamic Republic” of Iran if no agreement was reached. During the UN’s big set-piece events, the art of diplomacy for delegates often boils down to giving nothing away through facial expressions, especially when the cameras are looking for an unguarded response to a provocation. By that standard, the member of the Iranian delegation who maintained the demeanor of a poker player on Tuesday as he listened to Trump’s “annihilation” threat did not disappoint. Diplomatic contacts nevertheless have continued, with Trump saying his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks with Iranian intermediaries earlier that day. During the meeting with the Arab and Islamic leaders, Trump said there was momentum toward an agreement with Iran — thereby presenting military and economic pressure alongside a continuing opportunity for negotiations. There is evidence that the economic pressure is weighing on Tehran. The news agency Reuters, citing data from data and analysis platform Kpler, reported this month that Iranian crude loadings had fallen to about 260,000 barrels a day, from about 1.7 million a year earlier. The report also described growing difficulties Tehran was facing in obtaining foreign currency and financing imports. These pressures do not, by themselves, indicate that Iran is ready to accept a settlement. For Gulf governments, the practical measure of progress will be an agreement that ends attacks and restores reliable access to the waterways on which their economies depend. In his comments on Tuesday, Trump outlined what he described as US military and economic achievements, saying that most of Iran’s navy and aircraft had been destroyed and Operation Economic Outcast was “completely isolating Iran financially.” He also said the US had “escorted more than 1 billion barrels of oil out of the Gulf in the recent period of time.” Alongside those measures, Trump backed alternative energy-export routes and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, arguing that Iranian attacks had demonstrated the need to reduce the region’s exposure to vulnerable shipping routes. The threat extends beyond Hormuz. In a statement published on Tuesday, G7 foreign ministers and the EU’s foreign-policy chief condemned Houthi strikes in Yemen and against Saudi Arabia, including attacks that affect civilians and civilian infrastructure. They called on Iran to stop arming and supporting the Houthis in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and urged the group to cease its threats and attacks against civilian shipping. The statement, the issuers of which included the US, placed Tehran’s support for the Houthis at the center of international concerns over Red Sea security. Gaza was another area in which Trump highlighted the value of cooperation with regional partners. He credited their diplomacy, following last year’s meeting of the UN General Assembly, with helping to secure the Gaza agreement and establish the Board of Peace. The challenge now is to translate that framework into further progress on implementation, reconstruction and Palestinian governance. The reports about Tuesday’s meeting did not indicate any new joint commitments on those issues, or a timetable for ending the conflict with Iran. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that delegates at the meeting on Tuesday had “discussed the latest developments in the Middle East, foremost among them the regional escalation and its implications for the security and stability of the region, as well as the challenges related to the security and freedom of navigation in the straits of Hormuz and Bab Al-Mandab.” The meeting, it added, “also reviewed efforts to contain tensions and prevent the expansion of the conflict in the region, and to strengthen political and diplomatic pathways to address ongoing crises.” In comments to Arab News, Bader Al-Saif, a nonresident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute and a deputy chief of staff to a former Kuwaiti prime minister, offered a more cautious assessment of the expanded meeting and the prospects for an early breakthrough. “In the beginning, this was billed as a GCC-US meeting,” he said. “The attention was meant to be on the Gulf states, which have been the hardest hit in this war, and their needs and aspirations.” The broader gathering that it turned out to be included countries with differing interests and assessments of the conflict, he added, and his concern was that the immediate security needs of the Gulf should remain central to the diplomatic effort. “The fear among Gulf states is that we are seeing the normalizing of a stalemate, the normalizing of a frozen conflict,” Al-Saif said. Asharq Al-Awsat’s Alqahtani underscored the conditions Gulf states would regard as essential to any lasting settlement, in particular safeguards against the use of international waterways as instruments of pressure. There are “red lines,” he said, adding: “One of them is to get the situation in the Strait of Hormuz back to how it was before the Feb. 28, 2026. “But apart from that, the Americans can have whatever deal they like. The GCC countries would prefer that Iran will stop their ballistic missile program, and stop their nuclear program. “But the most important point is not to give any chance to any country to hold the straits of Hormuz or Bab Al-Mandab hostage, because this disrupts the whole global system.”