Middle East & North Africa
Guterres in Cairo: Iran and the US must avoid escalation that could spiral “out of control”
From Cairo, the UN Secretary-General urged Iran and the United States to choose diplomacy, called for navigation rights to be restored in Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, and raised Gaza, the West Bank, Sudan and Libya.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres used a visit to Cairo on Monday, 26 October, to urge Iran and the United States to step back from escalation, warning that the region could spiral “out of control” if the war between them continues. He spoke at a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, according to UN News.
Guterres called for “maximum restraint and diplomatic solutions” and said navigation rights must be fully restored in both the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. His appeal comes as regional delegations are in contact with Tehran; Geopolitiki reported earlier today on the Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish delegations meeting Iranian officials in Tehran as Trump weighs a deal or renewed strikes.
Egypt as mediator
The Secretary-General praised Egypt’s mediation role, describing the country as a pillar of multilateralism and stressing the importance of keeping diplomatic channels open. He thanked Cairo for its mediation and humanitarian work on Gaza, including aid delivery, and called on Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian assistance and remove obstacles to the UN-endorsed plan to end the conflict.
On the West Bank, Guterres voiced deep alarm over settlement expansion, evictions and violence, and warned of the looming spectre of ethnic cleansing. He said this must end and reaffirmed UN support for a two-State solution.
Sudan and Libya
Turning to Africa, Guterres said the fighting in Sudan must stop and that the country’s future should be decided by its own people through an inclusive political process. On Libya, he urged the parties to build on the current political momentum, unify the country’s institutions and hold national elections to end the prolonged transition.
UN News notes that this was Guterres’s ninth visit to Egypt since he took office in 2017, and that his term ends at the close of 2026.
Background for Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean
Egypt is also a key partner of Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the two countries signed an exclusive economic zone agreement in 2020; Geopolitiki has explained what the 2020 Greece-Egypt EEZ deal says. Libya is the other country in the Secretary-General’s remarks that touches directly on Greek concerns: Greece has written to the Secretary-General about the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, as reported in Illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum: Greece writes to UN Secretary-General Guterres, Egypt repeats its flat rejection to Fidan. The UN account of the Cairo press conference does not mention the memorandum.
