Saudi FM tells UN General Assembly Gulf security demands collective response, not unilater

Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan stood before the UN General Assembly on Saturday and put Gulf security squarely on the table for collective institutional response, not unilateral action by any single state. That framing, rules and cooperation over individual maneuvering, ran through the entire address.

The Kingdom’s top diplomat told the Assembly that Saudi Arabia and other regional countries had faced what he called “flagrant Iranian attacks” against security resources and civilian and economic facilities. He reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s right to protect its security, sovereignty, citizens, residents and national resources, and called on the international community to confront threats to international peace and security directly. “The security of the Gulf region is part and parcel of the security of the region and the world at large,” he said.

The core of his argument: institutions and agreed rules, not unilateral action, are what guarantee stability. Prince Faisal linked Gulf stability directly to global energy security, international trade and supply chains. He called for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, rejecting any use of these waterways as tools of pressure or threat. Specifically, he demanded the situation in the Strait of Hormuz return to its pre-28 February status, with no fees or restrictions imposed.

On de-escalation, responsibility gets distributed rather than assumed by one actor. The minister pointed to diplomatic initiatives already in motion, led by Qatar, Pakistan and other countries, and pushed for comprehensive, sustainable regional security arrangements addressing root causes rather than symptoms. He also called for a region free of weapons of mass destruction, with peaceful nuclear programs subject to international oversight and safeguards. That last point matters: it places verification and compliance, not trust, at the center of any future security structure.

The same accountability lens extended to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Prince Faisal condemned the targeting of civilians, obstruction of humanitarian aid, attempted forced displacement and settlement expansion. A just and lasting peace, he argued, requires a two-State solution and an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

On Yemen, he called for a comprehensive political solution and noted Saudi Arabia has provided more than $29 billion in humanitarian and development assistance to date. He condemned Houthi missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and commercial vessels, urging the international community to reject any acts threatening navigation in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb.

Beyond security, the address turned to governance of newer global challenges. Prince Faisal cited the achievements of Saudi Vision 2030 and argued energy security and climate action should reinforce each other rather than compete. He called for realistic energy transitions that exclude no source, pointing to Saudi investment in renewable energy, clean hydrogen, carbon capture and more resilient infrastructure. On artificial intelligence, he pressed for international cooperation to keep the technology’s use responsible and development-focused, citing Saudi initiatives on AI capacity-building and ethics.

By contrast with unilateral posturing elsewhere on the world stage, Prince Faisal closed on a note of institutional dependency: no single country can confront these challenges alone. Security, he said, holds only through adherence to the UN Charter, respect for international law and cooperation toward peaceful solutions, stability and sustainable development.

What happens next depends largely on whether Qatar’s, Pakistan’s and other diplomatic channels can translate this rhetoric into a workable regional security framework, and whether Hormuz reverts to its prior status without further conditions attached. The full address is available via UN News at https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168459.