Cautious Optimism As Kuwait Pushes For Lasting Iran-Israel Ceasefire

Arab Times

11 hours ago

KUWAIT CITY, June 25, (Agencies): The Kuwaiti Cabinet on Tuesday welcomed a recently announced ceasefire agreement between parties involved in the regional conflict, urging them to respect it. This came during the Cabinet's customary weekly meeting, held at Bayan Palace under the chairmanship of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
The Cabinet commended US President Donald Trump's efforts to put the ceasefire in place in a bid to promote diplomatic efforts to fend off further regional tensions and conflicts that undermine regional and international security and peace.
The Cabinet was apprised of His Highness the Amir and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah's chairmanship of a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council earlier in the day.
The meeting, which was attended by His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, was meant to follow up on the latest regional developments. In this regard, the Cabinet listened to an explanation by Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Al-Yahya, the current chairman of the GCC ministerial council, about the 49th extraordinary foreign ministerial meeting, held in Doha today as a sign of solidarity with and support for the State of Qatar. At the onset of the meeting, the Cabinet reiterated Kuwait's emphatic condemnation of the blatant attack on Al-Udeid Airbase in Qatar as an obvious breach of Qatar's sovereignty, international law and the UN Charter.
It underlined that the State of Kuwait stands side by side with the State of Qatar and backs all measures it is taking to safeguard its sovereignty, security and stability It added that the State of Kuwait is ready to harness all its potential and capabilities to support Qatar, wishing Qatar and its sisterly people long-lasting security and stability. Furthermore, the Cabinet restated Kuwait's vehement opposition to military escalation, while calling on involved parties to exert joint efforts to settle international disagreements by peaceful and diplomatic means and continuing negotiations in order to safeguard regional security, peace and stability. Also on Tuesday, Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Al-Yahya, the current chairman of the GCC Ministerial Council, chaired the 49th extraordinary GCC ministerial meeting in Doha to look into regional developments and bolster pan-Gulf action.
During the meeting, they GCC foreign ministers echoed their utter support for Qatar and condemnation of the Iranian attack on Al-Udeid Airbase, underlining that Qatar's security is an integral part of GCC security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release. The ministers, further, welcomed the announced ceasefire agreement, calling for capitalizing on such a step to promote the political option and step up diplomatic efforts to ensure regional security and stability. Following the extraordinary session, the Ministerial Council issued a statement condemning in the strongest terms the missile strikes launched by Iran against a military base in Qatar, read out by GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al Budaiwi. The Council expressed deep regret and firm denunciation of the attack, viewing it as a blatant, unacceptable, and dangerous violation of Qatar's sovereignty and airspace, international law, and the UN Charter, Al-Budaiwi said. The Council expressed full solidarity with Qatar, and affirmed its complete support for any measures the country may take to preserve its security and stability.
The Ministerial Council praised the capabilities of the Qatari Armed Forces in repelling the Iranian attack and emphasized that the security and stability of Qatar is an integral part of the security and stability of all GCC member states. In this regard, the council welcomed US President Donald Trump's announcement of the ceasefire agreement and ending the war between Iran and Israeli occupation forces. Furthermore, the Council statement praised Oman's role in the US-Iran nuclear negotiations, as well as the U.S. and Qatari efforts in mediating to end the war. The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding on Wednesday after a rocky start, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace even as Tehran insisted it will not give up its nuclear program.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold on Tuesday, the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit it was going 'very well,' adding that Iran was 'not going to have a bomb and they're not going to enrich.' Iran has insisted, however, that it will not give up its nuclear program. In a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, its parliament agreed to fasttrack a proposal that would effectively stop the country's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. watchdog that has monitored the program for years. Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for having 'refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities' that the United States carried out on Sunday. 'For this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran's peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace,' Qalibaf told lawmakers.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had already written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities. Among other things, Iran claims to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the U.S. strikes, and Grossi said his inspectors need to reassess the country's stockpiles. 'We need to return,' he said. 'We need to engage.' French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country was part of the 2015 deal with Iran that restricted its nuclear program but began unraveling after Trump pulled the U.S. out in his first term, said he hoped Tehran would come back to the table. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program was peaceful, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, which it has never acknowledged. The Israel Atomic Energy Commission said its assessment was that the U.S. and Israeli strikes have 'set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.' It did not give evidence to back up its claim.
The U.S. strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump said 'completely and fully obliterated' the country's nuclear program. At the NATO summit, when asked about a U.S. intelligence report that found Iran's nuclear program has been set back only a few months, Trump scoffed and said it would at least take 'years' to rebuild. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that the strikes by U.S. B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had caused significant damage. 'Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that's for sure,' he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, while refusing to go into detail. He seemed to suggest Iran might not shut out IAEA inspectors for good, noting that the bill before parliament only talks of suspending work with the agency, not ending it. He also insisted Iran has the right to pursue a nuclear energy program. 'Iran is determined to preserve that right under any circumstances,' he said. Trump's special envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff, said on Fox News late on Tuesday that Israel and the U.S. had achieved their objective of 'the total destruction of the enrichment capacity' in Iran, and Iran's prerequisite for talks - that Israel end its campaign - had been fulfilled. 'The proof is in the pudding,' he said. 'No one's shooting at each other. It's over.'
Grossi said he could not speculate on how bad the damage was but that Iran's nuclear capabilities were well known. 'The technical knowledge is there, and the industrial capacity is there,' he said. 'That no one can deny, so we need to work together with them.' An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the ceasefire agreement with Iran amounted to 'quiet for quiet,' with no further understandings about Iran's nuclear program going ahead. In the Fox News interview, Witkoff said Trump is now looking to land 'a comprehensive peace agreement that goes beyond even the ceasefire.' 'We're already talking to each other, not just directly, but also through interlocutors,' Witkoff said, adding that the conversations were promising and 'we're hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement.'