World leaders will begin arriving at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday for the General Assembly’s high-level week, with the US war on Iran and its global repercussions, alongside the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and artificial intelligence, expected to dominate talks and speeches.
Guterres warns of escalation in Ukraine and the Middle East
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on the eve of the meetings that conditions in Ukraine and the Middle East were deteriorating. He said: "When we look at the Russian-Ukrainian war, and when we look at the entire Middle East, we find that the situation is getting worse day by day," pointing to a serious risk of an explosion as escalation continues.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to urge his country’s allies to continue meeting its defence needs, as Russia responds to attacks by long-range drones targeting its energy infrastructure. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will return to the forefront of contentious issues amid stalled peace efforts in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to make a brief visit to New York after the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said he could not enforce the arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court.
The administration of US President Donald Trump refused to grant Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian officials visas to enter the United States for the second year in a row. By contrast, a US State Department spokesperson said Washington would grant visas to an Iranian delegation to attend the meetings, despite the war continuing into its seventh month.
A source familiar with the matter said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian would be part of the delegation. Chinese President Xi Jinping will be absent from the General Assembly meetings, as he will travel to Washington for a state visit during which he will meet Trump. China’s support for Russia and Iran is expected to be among the issues raised in the talks.
Artificial intelligence at the centre of General Assembly discussions
Artificial intelligence occupies a central place on the meetings’ agenda, amid growing calls for tighter controls on its development following incidents and warnings from prominent industry figures. The UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the issue.
Amid competition between the United States and China in this field, Guterres called for stronger international coordination, saying: "The world cannot afford to enter a race to the bottom when it comes to AI safety standards." He also urged countries developing high-capability technologies to share information, establish transparency mechanisms, and create regulatory rules and a multilateral mechanism to reduce risks.
Guterres warned of three problems he described as existential: artificial intelligence getting out of control, accelerating climate change, and worsening inequality, which he said was driving instability and conflicts. The meetings will also discuss the climate and environmental impacts of artificial intelligence technologies and their potential benefits.
Climate and the selection of a new secretary-general
The five permanent members of the Security Council—the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France—may use the meeting to try to reach agreement on the candidate, despite a European diplomat saying there are so far no signs of consensus.
Guterres calls for reform of international institutions
As his term nears its end, Guterres called for the restructuring of international institutions established after the Second World War. He said geopolitical divisions and the paralysis of the Security Council had created an environment of impunity, and that the organisation lacked sufficient influence to advance peace efforts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
He also said that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East were affecting the global economy through higher food and energy prices and interest rates, while developing countries were struggling to meet their populations’ needs.
He called for international cooperation to address crises that, he said, no country could resolve on its own.
