Sources disclosed to the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday that US-mediated discussions between Damascus and Jerusalem in recent months produced "a written security agreement" slated for signing on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September. Syria's de facto president, Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani), attended that assembly. Nevertheless, according to the sources, Netanyahu declined to sign the written accord.

The sources emphasized that conditions in southern Syria have become deeply troubling, with Damascus anticipating that Washington will leverage its influence over Israel to curtail the escalation in the region. The officials stated that the expectation is "to restore the status quo ante," given that "President Trump possesses the capability to persuade Israel to halt the escalation across southern Syria." Syrian leadership has insisted over the past year that Israel retreat from territories captured since December 2024, thereby honoring the Separation of Forces Agreement (the 1974 accord following the Yom Kippur war that established a UN-monitored zone on the Golan Heights).

Within this framework, senior Syrian officials were quoted in the report asserting that Israel has carried more than 1,000 air strikes in Syria, alongside more than 400 ground incursions in the southern provinces since December 2024, when al-Sharaa took office.

The Saudi newspaper further reported that Israeli-controlled territory in Syria since the Assad regime's collapse a year ago exceeds 460 square kilometers (178 square miles). The account alleged that nine military installations and observation posts have been erected within this area. This is in addition to Israel's seizure of the Mount Hermon summit, which provides surveillance capabilities over Syrian and Lebanese terrain.

Earlier, the Reuters news agency reported that multiple stringent US sanctions imposed during the Assad era could be revoked within weeks. Their removal has been incorporated into comprehensive defense policy legislation poised for passage in the US Congress in coming days. Since the Assad regime's downfall, Washington has already lifted a substantial portion of the sanctions. These measures are anticipated to bolster the Syrian economy under al-Sharaa's administration.

The Prime Minister's Office dismissed the report outright, saying: "Total fake news. There were contacts and meetings under US auspices, but matters never reached the point of agreements and understandings with Syria."

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The first matter was the conspicuous, organized departure of dozens of ambassadors from the plenary hall the moment Netanyahu began speaking at the podium. This was admittedly an act of hypocrisy – even Iran garnered more support – but it spoke to Israel's current status in the international arena. Anyone who believes the UN is irrelevant is mistaken; this action is supported by a sequence of measures and boycotts that currently endanger Israel in every potential sphere – from trade to sports, from culture to academia.

The second matter was the loudspeakers installed in Gaza to allow its Palestinian inhabitants to listen to the address. This was a maneuver that demonstrated a complete loss of composure and total loss of direction, both by Netanyahu and his advisors who are fixated on stunts, and equally by the IDF, which collaborated and jeopardized soldiers with this foolish endeavor. There is absolutely no inherent value in this mission, whose legitimacy is dubious and whose logic is absent given its lack of concrete impact on the intended audience.

A speech devoid of hope

The speech itself was a complex masterpiece, but it prompted somber reflections. For example, regarding the disparity between the complimentary reference to the 20 living hostages (and what about the others?), and the cold and detached attitude their families encounter from Netanyahu and his inner circle. Or concerning the barcode leading to the atrocity video, which appeared considerably late and after the world had already moved on.

More than anything, two elements were absent from the address: hope and initiative. The world seeks both of these, and so do the majority of Israelis. Netanyahu offers them only an apocalypse – immediately, and continuing forward – and finds himself, in exchange, with Tonga and Papua standing with him. There is very little wisdom in this approach. Israel has cornered itself into a perilous situation where it wavers between absolute isolation and an imposed resolution, or perhaps even a blend of both.

The key leverage, as ever, is held by President Donald Trump, the core principles of whose plan were released at the end of the week and fall short of Israel's demands threshold. Netanyahu is trapped: if he persuades Donald Trump to stand with him, meaning he manages to delay the plan, he will intensify the global boycott against Israel. If he aligns with Donald Trump, he risks losing his supporting coalition base, which persisted in sounding "annexation now" messages recently while Trump clearly indicated that there is no chance of that occurring.

To assume command

Netanyahu is the paramount political Houdini of our time, and he has navigated out of impossible circumstances previously. But even Houdini perished after taking an unforeseen blow, and Netanyahu – and Israel – must not risk a similar outcome. Upon his arrival at the White House, he must embrace the counsel of senior members of the security establishment and several of his ministers, and take the reins back into his hands. The hostage agreement currently presented for consideration would constitute a beneficial starting point allowing for a break and a calming of tensions, following which the campaign can be managed in a more measured and effective way.

The answers will be known upon Netanyahu's return, on Tuesday. They are anticipated in the homes of the hostages, and in the homes of the fighters, and in every Israeli home engaged with the war and its repercussions, and also in quite a few homes worldwide – which are utterly weary of Israel's conflicts.

After the stunts have finished, the moment for actions has come. The individual who presented at the UN is not an entertainer, he is a prime minister, and we are not living in a movie. Israel will not achieve victory in the war through speeches or through loudspeakers, but through actions. And if it does not take action itself, others might do it for it – and detrimentally – very soon, and at a substantial cost.

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According to the Prime Minister's Office: "As part of the informational campaign, the Prime Minister's Office directed civilian factors in collaboration with the IDF to position speakers on trucks solely on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, to transmit into the Gaza Strip the landmark speech of Prime Minister Netanyahu Friday at the UN General Assembly. Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed to confirm clearly that this operation would not risk IDF soldiers."

According to a host of sources, the speech of Prime Minister Netanyahu is anticipated to feature a direct appeal to Gaza residents with focus on Israel's wish to liberate them from the Hamas regime that employs them as hostages. For this reason Netanyahu sought the placement of the speakers.

IDF got the directive overnight Thursday from the Prime Minister's Office and proceeded to place the speakers inside the strip. Only on Friday did Netanyahu's statement indicate that the speakers should supposedly be only beyond the fence. The IDF, baffled by that, has scrambled to see what the actual directive entails.

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Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan tore up the United Nations Human Right Council's annual report at a special General Assembly hearing in New York, Friday.

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"Since its establishment 15 years ago, the Human Rights Council has condemned Israel 95 times compared to the 142 against all other countries in the world combined," Erdan told those in attendance at the assembly.

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"It was on this stage at this very body that the very right of the Jewish people to have a national home was itself declared to be racist - a decision that was justly overturned, a decision that Israel's ambassador at the time, Chaim Herzog, tore up at the United Nations [in 1975 when the world body passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism]. And this is exactly what should be done to this antisemitic, distorted, one-sided report," Erdan said.

Today, I addressed the @UN General Assembly and spoke out against the baseless, one-sided, and outright false accusations from the Human Rights Council's annual report. 1/8 pic.twitter.com/b4YIv2jGaK

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 29, 2021

He said the report belonged "in the dustbin of antisemitism" before ripping it up and leaving.

In a statement, the UNHRC said it had convened three special sessions this year to address Myanmar, Israel, and Afghanistan this year.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett humiliated senior Health Ministry officials and senior physicians advising the government at the UN General Assembly and at a subsequent press conference, a senior ministry official told Israel Hayom.

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"Worse still, even if it wasn't the prime minister's intention, on one of the most important world stages, he gave a boost to those causing the greatest damage to the fight against the pandemic in Israel – vaccine opponents, the vaccine-hesitant, and coronavirus deniers. The prime minister's remarks implied he does not trust the professional figures at the Health Ministry and that they 'stutter' when he asks them [questions]."

The senior Health Ministry official added that "the impact of Bennett's remarks could be destructive and fatal, both in terms of a difficult blow to public trust as well as in the tendency to adhere to Health Ministry recommendations and orders as well as the desire of millions of Israelis to get vaccinated. This may be one of the most serious and offensive steps ever taken in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, and that's without it having been done at the UN," saying, "It looked like the assassination of the Health Ministry echelon before all of the world."

A senior figure in the Israeli health system told Israel Hayom that "it's very tempting to think about what Defense Minister Bennett would have said about Prime Minister Bennett: 'Have you gone mad? What are you doing? Get yourself together.' Genuine leadership knows how to harness the professional echelon and work with it, as some of the other ministers do very nicely, conducting substantive discussions, and mainly, not looking for excuses for the most difficult data, according to which since the outbreak of the fourth wave, over 1,200 Israelis, whom he made not one mention of, have died. Bennett's remarks were shocking. It's inconceivable to think they were made by a prime minister, and he continues to take pride in his achievements in the war on the coronavirus and how wonderful everything is – for shame!"

Health Ministry officials further said Bennett's unprecedented remarks took aim at the piercing criticism of the coronavirus policies the prime minister raised at a meeting of the so-called "coronavirus cabinet," the most professional and important body advising the government in the war on the coronavirus, Thursday. This meeting was the first time the cabinet said the government's policies were dangerous, incorrect, destructive, and in opposition to the repeated demands of senior Health Ministry officials. They said this policy had already led to mass infections, mass quarantines in the health system, and a serious and ongoing increase in the number of deaths and those in seriously ill condition.

Bennett spoke to members of the press before boarding his flight to Tel Aviv. He said: "I very much respect the health experts and cherish their work. Nevertheless, imposing more and more sweeping restrictions on citizens is not the government's policy. We will prevent sweeping restrictions on the general population at this stage.

"The policy is to keep the State of Israel as open as possible, as open an economy as possible alongside a focused effort on the unvaccinated and centers of morbidity," he said.

Referring to the government's traffic-light system for ranking local authorities according to coronavirus infection rates, Bennett noted: "The 40 reddest communities in Israel right now are in the Arab society, and over 90% of people hospitalized in serious condition are unvaccinated. Therefore, despite the pressure, we will avoid sweeping restrictions on the entire population at this stage."

He said, "We will try to avoid activity with low efficacy and high incidental damage. We need to understand, the significance of such sweeping activities is the immediate loss of thousands of places of work for the State of Israel's citizens."

Earlier Wednesday, the prime minister was updated on the status of Israel's vaccination campaign in a phone call with the heads of Israel's four national healthcare providers, as well Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, coronavirus chief Salman Zarka, and the head of the IDF Home Front Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin.

Bennett called to focus the campaign's efforts on the Arab public, noting the vaccination rate in Arab communities and east Jerusalem were particularly low.

Meanwhile, Israeli Medical Association head Dr. Zion Hagay accused Bennett of crossing "red lines" in his speech at the UN General Assembly Tuesday.

He said: "What started as biased leaks by anonymous sources was revealed as a blatant deligitimization campaign by the prime minister of Israel against doctors… who work night and day in the war against the virus. We have never seen such a thing until today."

This was the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic that the cabinet issued such piercing criticism of the government over the unforgivable outcome of its policies: Over 1,200 victims in this fourth wave – meaning around 20 to 30 people succumbing to the virus every day, between 8,000 and 10,000 daily infections, over 700 people in serious conditions – with around 80 patients becoming seriously ill every day, and over 200 people on ventilators – a record number in this current wave.

The cabinet discussion was held last Wednesday. Participants included Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, head of Public Health Services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, coronavirus chief Professor Salman Zarka, and the head of the Infectious Disease Unit Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Professor Galia Rahav.

Calling the current situation one of the greatest failures of the Education Ministry and the current government, the experts said the way the school year began and was set to reopen Thursday, following the Sukkot holiday, does "not include the majority of components that were planned to be included by the Health Ministry, and they are [merely] minimal tools to bring down the infection rate.

As Israeli students across the country return to school, "this could lead to an increase in morbidity, and because we are already struggling to provide optimal care to all patients that require intensive care and ECMO [machines], we could see severe instances of prioritizing young patients who require critical care," the experts said, in remarks echoing those by a number of hospital directors who spoke to Israel Hayom in recent weeks.

Appearing to say mass gatherings were responsible for current morbidity levels, they said that "continuing to hold out on hope morbidity [levels] will decrease despite the return to studies, just to avoid having to impose a single, most minimal restriction on gatherings, is unreasonable.

"There is no logic to holding large gatherings like sporting events at a time of record, uncontrollable infections, and when dozens of young, seriously ill patients are coming in for treatment every day."

Panel members said: "The extent of the ongoing morbidity over the last month is taking a serious toll, costing us many lives, and despite the hopes for a decrease in morbidity levels thanks to the vaccination campaign, it is impossible and illogical to continue down the current path" and a change in policy for the near future is needed "until a significant and continuous decrease in serious illness has been proven."

The experts further said it was a serious mistake for the government to base its policies on a desire not to pay compensation to businesses and leave the market open. They said the current policy amounted to "dealing with [the pandemic] for an open-ended amount of time with barely any central effort to thwart or decrease infections."

Experts called to tighten restrictions on gathering so that no more than 300 people are allowed to convene in indoor spaces and continue to make vaccines accessible to Israelis aged 12 and over who have yet to be vaccinated, as well as those who have yet to receive the third dose of the vaccine.

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Michael Lynk told the General Assembly's human rights committee that the international community should also issue "a clarion call to the United Nations" to complete and release a database "on businesses engaged in activities related to the illegal settlements."

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Israel is deeply opposed to the Palestinian-led international boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, which it views as an attack on its very existence.

The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Lynk's statement.

Lynk said the international community has a responsibility and a legal obligation to compel Israel to completely end its "occupation" and remove barriers to self-determination for the Palestinians.

He pointed to the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which he called "a human-made catastrophe" and "an injustice that should be near the top of the world's agenda to end." He said the economic situation there "continues to move from dire to acute to unimaginable," with over half of Gaza's population "food insecure," the unemployment rate over 50%, and 70% of Gazans younger than 30 without work.

Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Islamic terrorist group Hamas seized power in 2007, and the border closures coupled with mismanagement by Hamas authorities have devastated the territory's economy.

Lynk said over 200 Palestinians have been killed and over 33,000 wounded on the Gaza-Israeli border since March 2018, when Hamas began organizing its weekly riots there.

The UN Commission of Inquiry's report to the Human Rights Council in March said virtually all the demonstrators killed were shot by Israeli soldiers, calling that a violation of the international law requiring those fighting to distinguish between combatants and civilians. The report also faulted Hamas for its role in the clashes.

Israel, which strongly criticized the report, says the army is defending the country's border against violent infiltration attempts and accuses Hamas of using the large crowds as cover to carry out attacks.

"Israel has demonstrated virtually no accountability to address these actions," Lynk said.

Lynk, who is a Canadian law professor, said Israel's occupation of territory the Palestinians want for their own state has been characterized by numerous and serious violations of international law, but "the international community has displayed great unwillingness to impose any meaningful accountability on Israel."

As examples, he cited Israel's failure to comply with its obligation to implement Security Council resolutions such as a 1979 demand for a complete end of Israeli settlements and a 2016 call to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities" in occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their independent state.

Lynk also referred to four reports commissioned by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council that found serious rights violations by Israel, including during the 2008-2009 and 2014 Gaza conflicts, protests at the Gaza-Israel border, and in Israeli settlement building.

"No occupation in the modern world," Lynk said, "has been conducted with the international community so alert to its many grave breaches of international law, so knowledgeable about the occupier's obvious and well-signaled intent to annex and establish permanent sovereignty, so well-informed about the scale of suffering and dispossession endured by the protected population under occupation, and yet so unwilling to act upon the overwhelming evidence before it to employ the tangible and plentiful legal and political tools at its disposal to end the injustice."

He called for "bold measures and the determination to enforce accountability," starting with an international agreement on "a complete ban on the export of all products made in the illegal Israeli settlements in the world market."

"Accountability is the key to unlocking the titanium cage that is the endless occupation," he said. "Now is the time for the international community to turn the key."

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Katz, who was announced as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's replacement after Israel's general election on Sept. 17 ended in deadlock, began his speech by thanking US President Donald Trump for his support of Israel before launching into a condemnation of Israel's greatest antagonists in the region.

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Addressing the Palestinians, Katz urged leaders in Ramallah "to stop incitement … and financing terrorism."

He also called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to recognize "the right of the Jewish people to its own state" and "to come back to direct negotiations without any pre-conditions."

#BREAKING: In address at #UNGA, #Israel's Foreign Minister @Israel_katz thanks #Trump for his support of #Israel and declares "no one can separate the #Jewish people from their homeland." https://t.co/yje5vCIVzg pic.twitter.com/yvThM1WpY9

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) September 26, 2019

The foreign minister also urged Hamas, the ruling authority in the Gaza Strip, to release "two Israeli citizens, Avraham Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul," from their custody.

In addition, Katz issued a condemnation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who earlier in the UNGA accused Israel of stealing Palestinian land while questioning the country's sovereign borders.

At UNGA, #Israel's FM @Israel_Katz points to #Tehran as the world's largest sponsor of terror, calling on the int'l community to "stop #Iran today, to prevent war tomorrow." https://t.co/yje5vCIVzg pic.twitter.com/XfRoNQFHaB

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) September 26, 2019

"The other day I heard Erdoğan attack Israel and I want to say to him: You, that brutally oppress the Turkish people, slaughter the Kurdish minority and support the terror organization Hamas – you are the last one that can lecture Israel. You are not the Sultan and Turkey is not the Ottoman Empire. Shame on you," Katz said.

But Katz saved his harshest critique for the Islamic Republic of Iran, who he called the "main problem threatening stability, and security in the Middle East," and accused Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of giving the "direct orders" to attack several Saudi oil facilities from Yemen earlier this month.

"Iran is the biggest terror state, and the biggest 'sponsor of terror' in the world," Katz said. "I call on the international community to unite in order to stop Iran."

During the live address, the camera panned to a row of empty seats revealing no Iranian officials were present to hear Katz speak. During Rouhani's address on Wednesday, Israeli officials were also not in attendance.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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Rouhani also rejected meeting US President Donald Trump while the two are in New York this week for the annual UN General Assembly, but both US and Iranian officials suggested they have some interest in a negotiation.

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It remains unclear how one might happen given Tehran's demand that Washington first ease sanctions that have blighted its economy and the US imposition of fresh penalties as part of its "maximum pressure" campaign.

"Our response to talks under pressure is 'No,'" Rouhani said in a speech to the General Assembly even as the United States tightened the vise by blacklisting Chinese firms for dealing in Iranian oil despite US sanctions.

The US-Iranian confrontation has ratcheted up since last year when Trump withdrew from Iran's nuclear deal with major powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the Islamic republic's economy.

Trump wants to go beyond that deal to further curb Iran's nuclear program, halt its ballistic missile work and end its support for proxy forces in the Middle East.

"If you wish more, if you require more, you should give and pay more," Rouhani said in his General Assembly address, without giving details.

In his own speech on Tuesday, Trump accused Iranian leaders of "bloodlust" and called on other nations to put pressure on Iran after Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi oil facilities that Washington blames on Tehran despite its denials.

The United States plans to increase its military presence in Saudi Arabia following the attacks.

Rouhani, however, said the Persian Gulf region is "on the edge of collapse, as a single blunder can fuel a big fire," and vowed to respond "decisively and strongly" to any foreign violation of its security or territorial integrity.

Trump had said there was still a path to peace and Rouhani has left the door open to diplomacy, saying that if sanctions were lifted, Washington could join nuclear talks between Tehran and other powers.

"We want a peaceful resolution with the Islamic Republic of Iran," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters, saying it was up to Iran. "We hope we get the opportunity to negotiate with them."

The United States has also been reaching out to Iranian officials to discuss the fate of American nationals held in Iran, a US State Department official said on Wednesday.

Despite French and British leaders urging Rouhani to sit down with Trump, an Iranian official told Reuters there was no chance the US and Iranian presidents would meet this week.

"The chances of a meeting are zero. They know what to do," the official said. The official said the United States should return to the 2015 deal, lift sanctions and end the maximum pressure campaign.

Under that deal, Iran limited its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions that constricted its ability to trade with the world.

After abandoning the deal, Trump in May tightened sanctions on Iran in an effort to reduce its oil exports – its main source of foreign exchange and government revenues – to zero.

On Wednesday, the United States sanctioned five Chinese people and six entities it accused of knowingly transferring oil from Iran in violation of Washington's curbs on Tehran. The entities include two Cosco Shipping subsidiaries but not the parent company itself.

"This is one of the largest sanctions actions the United States has taken against entities and individuals identified as transporting Iranian oil since our sanctions were re-imposed in November 2018," Pompeo said in a statement on the move.

While it at first fully adhered to the deal despite Trump's withdrawal, Iran has gradually reduced its compliance and has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, through which an estimated one-fifth of the world's oil passes.

The United States has blamed Iran for a series of actions since May – some of which Iran has denied – that have roiled oil markets, including attacks on half a dozen tankers, shooting down a US drone and the Sept. 14 attacks on Aramco facilities.

The airstrikes on the heartland of Saudi Arabia's oil industry damaged the world's biggest petroleum-processing facility and knocked out more than 5% of global oil supply.

"This cannot go unanswered, there has to be consequences for Iran for what they did," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said. He said Riyadh was consulting others and that its options included diplomatic and economic steps.

The United States, European powers and Saudi Arabia have blamed the attack on Iran, instead of the Yemeni Iran-aligned Houthi group, which claimed responsibility. Iran distanced itself from the attacks but said it was ready for "full-fledged" war.

In the penultimate sentence of his UN speech, Rouhani raised the possibility of talks.

"This is the message of the Iranian nation: Let's invest on hope toward a better future rather than in war and violence," he said. "Let's return to justice; to peace; to law, commitment and promise and finally to the negotiating table."

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"I believe that the conditions in this context for a rapid return to negotiations have been created," Macron told reporters before heading back to Paris from New York, where he attended the annual United Nations General Assembly.

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"It's now up to the Iranians and the United States to seize these conditions and work together to relaunch momentum."

The French leader has been pushing to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran over the last few weeks, especially after an attack on Saudi oil facilities on Sept 14. that the United States, Europe, and Saudi Arabia have blamed on Iran.

Macron used two days of shuffle diplomacy at the UN to try to bring US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani face-to-face or at the very least get them to engage, fearing that a new incident could inflame the region.

But, with Rouhani demanding the United States lift tough sanctions that have strangled its economy and Washington refusing to do so until Iran comes to the table without conditions, the chances of a breakthrough still appear slim, even if the two leaders are still in New York on Wednesday.

"There is a common desire to progress and to not just find the terms of a de-escalation, but build a long-term accord," Macron said. "But it depends on the will of both sides."

Macron said the parameters of the talks were to ensure Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon, end Yemen's civil war, develop a plan for regional security that includes other crises in the region, ensure maritime flows in the Strait of Hormuz and lift economic sanctions.

But while Macron said those were the conditions, there appeared little to suggest that either side had agreed to take the next step.

"I think that lifting of sanctions on the part of the Americans without any visibility on the other subjects is not possible," Macron said.

"At the same time, clear commitments from Iran on the points I mentioned are not possible without American commitments."

When asked whether he thought they could still meet this week, Macron urged the two leaders to not miss the chance.

"I don't think in the coming weeks and months there will be an opportunity for him [Rouhani] to come back to the US, and I don't think President Trump will be going to Tehran," he said.

"It's a physical opportunity to seize because I think the best way to start a negotiation is to have a meeting, have a frank discussion between the two main protagonists," Macron said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson "raised our deep concern about Iran's destabilizing activity in the region, including the attacks on the Aramco oil facilities, and insisted this must stop," during a meeting with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in New York on Tuesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.

He stressed support for the Iran nuclear deal and the need for dialogue, "including on a comprehensive successor deal."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also expressed concerns about the Middle East situation on Tuesday.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Abe called the Sept. 15 attacks on Saudi oil facilities "an extremely contemptible crime that holds the international economic order hostage."

He did not, however, specify who Japan thought was behind the attacks.

Japan has traditionally had friendly ties with Iran and Abe has been trying to ease the tensions between Tehran and Tokyo's closest ally, Washington.

"It is my own unchanging role to call on Iran as a major power to take actions that are grounded in the wisdom derived from its rich history," Abe said, noting that Japan shared concerns regarding the Middle East situation.

Abe met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earlier in the day.

Abe also said he supported US President Donald Trump's approach to North Korea.

"The approach by which the two leaders talk candidly with each other and try to work out the issues at hand while seeing a bright future ahead has changed the dynamics surrounding North Korea," he said. He repeated that he wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "without attaching any conditions."

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Turkey signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1980 and has also signed the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear detonations for any purpose.

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Erdoğan has hinted in the past that he wanted the same protection for Turkey as Israel, which foreign analysts say possesses a sizable nuclear arsenal.

Israel maintains a policy of ambiguity around the nuclear issue, refusing to confirm or deny its capabilities.

"The position of nuclear power should either be forbidden for all or permissible for everyone," Erdoğan told the UN General Assembly annual gathering of world leaders.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish leader angered Israel when he compared the "Israeli slaughter in Gaza" to the Holocaust in a conversation with Muslims and Turkish citizens in New York.

Addressing the group, he said that "when we look at the Nazi genocide against Jews, we look at the massacre in the Gaza Strip from the same perspective," according to a report by Turkey's Anadolu news agency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took Erdoğan to task for the remarks, saying, "He who does not stop lying about Israel, who slaughters the Kurds in his country, and who denies the awful massacre of the Armenian people, should not preach to Israel."

"Erdoğan, stop lying."

On Twitter, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz wrote, "There is no other way to interpret Erdoğan's crude and vile words it is antisemitism, clear cut. This is proof that the responsibility of #HolocaustRemembrance is more relevant now than ever."

Yaakov Hagoel, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization, also blasted Erdoğan, for the remarks.

"Erdoğan, the tyrant from Istanbul, continues to lash out at the Jewish people and the State of Israel. I suggest the tyrant Erdoğan look over the hate-filled and murderous history of his people on the Armenian people."

He said that Erdoğan, "who detains his opponents and persecutes his critics" should not "preach morality to the moral people in the world and the State of Israel."

He continued, "On the subject of Jerusalem, Sultan Erdoğan has dreams. I suggest he first address the restriction of human rights in Turkey."

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