Yelena Suponina: the Middle East is dangerous and will become even more so

In an interview with International Affairs magazine, political scientist and an expert on the Middle East Yelena Suponina talked about the details of the week of high-level meetings held as part of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York:

"The Middle East is dangerous and will become even more so. The speeches made by Middle Eastern leaders at the UN General Assembly were a cry for help. Even the bravado of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing parliamentary elections at home on October 27, fizzled out in a half-empty hall and the absence of a warm reception from his longtime friend, US President Donald Trump. Although bellicose, his speech was still permeated with anxiety, just as the one delivered by his political rival, Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and the statement made by Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Equally alarming was the speech by Rashad al-Alimi, Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, whose forces are currently under attack by the Houthis near the coast of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait," Yelena Suponina said.

"The Iranian president and his foreign minister both traveled to New York, but the mistrust between Washington and Tehran is so deep that the two sides ultimately fell short of engaging in direct talks, despite Donald Trump having suggested such a possibility," she added.  

"Moreover, those talks kept us guessing for several days, but at the end of the day it turned out - just as we had predicted - that no agreement was reached. Iran rolled out a set of tough demands, remaining confident in its position, while the Americans, having failed to achieve their goals in the Strait of Hormuz, are now facing heightened tensions in the neighboring Bab-el-Mandeb Strait due to the situation in Yemen," the expert noted.

"The Middle East needs the UN, but the question remains: how to make it more effective? Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov raised this issue over and over again during meetings at the UN General Assembly, and his every press gaggle drew a great deal of interest," Suponina recalled.

"Russia has concrete proposals on how to facilitate negotiations between Iran and the US and how to revitalize various UN mechanisms. The Russian foreign minister spoke at length about the situation in the Middle East, which is a source of concern for Russia, and about the long-overdue reform of the United Nations Organization," Yelena Suponina emphasized.

The views of the author are her own and may differ from the position of the Editorial Board.

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