Donald Trump meets on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York with the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — to discuss the next steps in the war against Iran, according to Axios, which cited three sources familiar with the plans.
Iraq and Jordan have been added to the list and Egypt may take part, according to Abu Dhabi’s The National. The meeting is expected to focus on US proposals for a postwar strategy, which the White House intends to finalize after November’s midterm elections, Axios reported. At the same panel attended by the UAE’s diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Iran had shifted from arming Hezbollah to increasingly arming the Houthis with “very sophisticated” drones and cruise missiles; Gargash called for a “new mindset” toward Iran, saying the region’s future should also be discussed between Tehran and Arab states. US officials say Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has been granted a visa to address the assembly on Wednesday, September 23, and that no meeting with Trump is planned, according to ABC News.