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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for dialogue and negotiations to resolve the ongoing conflict involving Iran during a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek on Tuesday, according to a statement from the UN chief's office.
Guterres expressed concern over what his office described as the devastating humanitarian and economic consequences of the conflict, both within Iran and across the wider region.
He said resolving the crisis through negotiation, rather than continued confrontation, had become an urgent priority.
In the readout of the meeting, Guterres emphasized that any resolution must come "with full respect for international law, including international navigational rights and freedoms in and around the Strait of Hormuz."
The strait, which separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the world's most heavily trafficked waterways for oil and gas shipments, linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the wider Arabian Sea.
The secretary-general reaffirmed that the United Nations remains committed to backing diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching what his office called a comprehensive and durable solution to the conflict. The statement did not elaborate on the specific format or timeline of any prospective negotiations.
The Guterres-Pezeshkian meeting took place on the margins of the SCO summit, which gathered leaders from the regional bloc in the Kyrgyz capital.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in 2001, includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan and several Central Asian states, along with Iran, and has increasingly served as a platform for member states to hold bilateral discussions alongside its formal agenda.
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