Iran-US war latest: Netanyahu calls Tehran attack ‘easy decision’ amid mass walkout by UN delegates

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in New York on Thursday that his country’s mediators have submitted a plan to the White House that would pave the way for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen within a week.

“We have introduced a plant to the United States through the mediators that if certain conditions are met … the strait will be open in seven days”, he said.

Should both sides reach an agreement, they could restart negotiations for a final deal, Araghchi added.

Reuters reportedly separately on Thursday that US and Iranian negotiators were exploring a possible ‘phased’ solution to the crisis, prioritising the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to the US blockade on Iranian ports.

A senior Iranian official said the most plausible way to end the impasse would be a phased arrangement, with Iran allowing navigation through Hormuz in return for the US lifting its economic blockade and Tehran potentially gaining access to frozen assets.

Iran’s motivation to end the crisis is a recognition of the economic cost of prolonged confrontation, officials said, noting that neither side wants to be the first to back down.

A phased agreement would involve Donald Trump accepting another temporary fix after the interim Islamabad Memorandum collapsed in July.

A central challenge facing the negotiators is not just to sketch out a deal but also to ensure any concessions are durable enough for both sides to trust, the sources said.

Arguing that protecting the strait “is the responsibility of every economy that depends on secure supply chains, energy security and freedom of navigation,” Yemen’s vice president Abdullah Abdulkader al Alimi-Bawzer urged the international community to keep weapons and technology from getting into the rebels’ hands.

For years, the UN Security Council has imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis and an asset freeze and travel ban on their leaders and top officials.

Iran denies arming the Houthis, but smuggled Iranian weapons and parts have been seized from numerous shipments bound for Yemen, and a report by UN experts in 2024 documented extensive military ties between the Houthis, Iran and its other allies.

Al Alimi-Bawzer contended on Thursday that the rebels wouldn’t have been able to maintain their position for a dozen years without Iranian weapons, expertise and military technologies.

The Houthis claimed on Thursday to have fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Jazan province. A Saudi military spokesperson, Major General Turki al-Malki, said the kingdom intercepted six ballistic missiles targeting its Red Sea port of Yanbu and the southwestern city of Taif, blaming the Houthis.

His statement followed alerts by Saudi civil defence authorities, who later noted the danger had passed.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government pressed world leaders anew on Thursday for help defeating the Houthis, saying that their new perch along one of the world’s busiest waterways presents an international economic risk.

The Houthis — who have controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north for over a decade — stormed down Yemen’s coast this month and seized the crucial port city of Mokha and key Red Sea islands.

That gives them better surveillance of ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the sea’s southern end. About 12 per cent of the world’s trade usually passes through the waterway.

The rebels have declared a blockade on Saudi shipping. While asserting there’s no other threat to commercial shipping on the Red Sea, they have warned other nations not to get involved.

But the vice president of the internationally recognised government council urged world leaders at the UN General Assembly not to trust the Houthis’ assurances and to see a bigger picture in the strife around the strait.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and ​his Iranian counterpart met on Thursday and Moscow said both agreed that only a diplomatic settlement could end tension in ⁠the Middle East sparked by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“Current regional and international issues were discussed with emphasis on the situation around Iran,” Russia’s ⁠foreign ministry said in a ​statement ⁠after Lavrov and Iran’s Abbas Araqchi met in New York on the ⁠sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“It was stressed ​that ⁠there is no alternative ‌to a diplomatic settlement of the crisis provoked by the illegal actions of the United ‌States and Israel.”

Russian president Vladimir ‌Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian signed a strategic cooperation partnership in 2025 which provides for a ⁠deepening of bilateral ties and closer defence cooperation, but includes no mutual defence clause.

Each side has provided the other with military know-how and equipment.

Pezeshkian thanked Putin earlier this month for Moscow’s position on the Iran war ‌and said together, Moscow and Tehran can ​resist what he called US “unilateralism”.

Benjamin Netanyahu was making a short visit to the US for his UN address and, unusually, without a planned meeting with US president Donald Trump, whom he praised during his speech.

“We will continue ‌to defend our state. We will continue to win because we have no other choice. In this battle against the barbarians, we’ve had no greater partner than President ​Trump. I thank him. I thank him for his bold leadership,” he said.

Delivering a defiant address to the United Nations on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mounted a firm defence of Israel’s regional military actions, attempting to push back against deepening global isolation ahead of upcoming domestic elections.

As he approached the podium inside the General Assembly hall, several delegations staged a walkout in protest, prompting the Israeli leader to label those departing “moral cowards.”

The Saudi, Pakistani and ​Turkish ⁠foreign ministers met within the framework of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, according to a Saudi foreign ministry statement after Houthis step up attack.

They condemned the attacks targeting Mecca and other civilian sites, while affirming Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself, the statement said.

“The ministers also discussed arrangements for holding an urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff of the ⁠three countries to discuss ways to support Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, which stipulates that an attack against any one of the parties constitutes an ​attack against all ⁠parties,” the statement said.

The meeting was announced shortly after Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian ‌sought to distance Iran from the Houthis in an American television interview on Thursday.

“The Houthis are responsible for their own actions,” Mr Pezeshkian told the Fox News a day after he appeared before the UN General Assembly in New York.

The interview and speech by Iranian president took place amid a pause in fighting between the US and Iran ‌and a brief attempt at diplomacy in New York, with Qatar serving as intermediary between the warring parties.

New York mayor Zohran Mamdani Zohran Mamdani has hit back at Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after he called him “New York’s antisemitic mayor” during his speech at the UN General Assembly.

Repeating his criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza where more than 73,000 people have been killed since the conflict following Hamas 7 October 2023 attack, he said, Mr Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies “meant to sanitise his genocide of Palestinians”.

“Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Earlier during his address, Mr Netanyahu referring to Mr Mamdani, said: “You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.

“To all those spreading these ‌lies about my country ‌and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in ⁠this hall or in the office of the anti-Semitic mayor of New York, I say this: Shame on you.”

Hacks star and Emmy winner Hannah Einbinder and Thelma & Louise actor Susan Sarandon were among those detained, per the New York Post. It’s unclear if they were hit with charges.

A massive crowd gathered Thursday ahead of Netanyahu’s planned speech as part of an anti-war sit-in protest outside the UN organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. Photos showed celebrities and personalities — including Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon, whistleblower Chelsea Manning and comedian Caleb Heron — among hundreds in attendance.

Protesters chanted, “Netanyahu you can’t hide, you are wanted for genocide,” while demanding his arrest.NYPD officers tried to clear the street outside the UN ahead of Netanyahu’s speech but resorted to detaining attendees.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold an urgent, high-level meeting under a joint defence pact to discuss ways to support the kingdom amid attacks by Houthis in Yemen, while Tehran sought to distance itself from the rapid advance of its Houthi allies.

The Houthis have launched strikes on the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and repeatedly fired into Saudi Arabia, disrupting oil flows from the world’s ⁠largest energy exporter, as part of a wider Middle East war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

The Houthis said they had fired dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets on Thursday, while authorities in Saudi Arabia said they had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Houthi fighters.

Saudi Arabia earlier had issued emergency alerts for areas including the holy city of Mecca, Jeddah and Yanbu, the main Saudi Red Sea oil port.

Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority called on soldiers in the kingdom to be ready to lay down their lives to fight the Houthis until the group is ousted from ⁠power, a statement posted on the Saudi state news agency said.