Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech from an unknown location, Nov. 20, 2024, in this still image from video. Photo: REUTERS TV/Al Manar TV via REUTERS.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday urged Saudi Arabia to turn “a new page” with the Iran-backed terrorist group and set aside past disputes to create a unified front against Israel, following years of hostility that strained Riyadh’s ties with Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states designated Shi’ite Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 2016. In recent months, Riyadh has joined Washington and Hezbollah‘s rivals within Lebanon in pressuring the Lebanese government to disarm the Islamist group, which was badly weakened by last year’s war with Israel.

In a televised address on Friday, Qassem said that regional powers should see Israel, not Hezbollah, as the main threat to the Middle East and proposed “mending relations” with Riyadh.

“We assure you that the arms of the resistance [Hezbollah] are pointed at the Israeli enemy, not Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, or any other place or entity in the world,” Qassem said.

He said dialogue would “freeze the disagreements of the past, at least in this exceptional phase, so that we can confront Israel and curb it” and said that pressuring Hezbollah “is a net gain for Israel.”

Saudi Arabia once spent billions in Lebanon, depositing funds in the central bank and helping rebuild the south after a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel – only to see the group grow more powerful in Lebanon and the region with Iran’s help.

Relations soured sharply in 2021 when Sunni Saudi Arabia expelled the Lebanese ambassador, recalled its own envoy, and banned Lebanese imports. A statement in Saudi state media at the time said Hezbollah controlled the Lebanese state’s decision-making processes.

Hezbollah‘s then-secretary general Hassan Nasrallah called Saudi Arabia‘s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman a “terrorist” and repeatedly criticized Saudi‘s role in Yemen.

But recent months have seen seismic political shifts in the region, with Israel pummeling Hezbollah last year and killing Nasrallah, and rebels toppling the group’s Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad in December.

Members of the UN Security Council vote against a resolution that would permanently lift UN sanctions on Iran at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

The United Nations Security Council did not adopt a draft resolution on Friday to permanently lift sanctions on Iran, but Tehran and key European powers still have eight days to try and agree to a delay.

The 15-member UN Security Council was required to vote on the draft resolution on Friday after Britain, France, and Germany launched a 30-day process on Aug. 28 to reimpose UN sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies having any such intention.

Russia, China, Pakistan, and Algeria voted in favor of the draft text on Friday. Nine members voted against and two abstained.

The Security Council vote has now set up a week of intense diplomacy while world leaders – including Iran‘s President Masoud Pezeshkian – are in New York for the annual high-level UN General Assembly.

IRAN SAYS VOTE OUTCOME ‘WEAKENS DIPLOMACY’

“The door for diplomacy is not closed, but it will be Iran, not adversaries, who decide with whom and on what basis to engage,” Iran‘s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters after the vote.

Iran‘s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will meet with his European counterparts in New York next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, he said, adding that Friday’s divided vote showed there was “no consensus in the council.”

“This decision weakens diplomacy and risks dangerous consequences for non-proliferation,” Iravani said.

Britain, France, and Germany have offered to delay reinstating sanctions for up to six months – to allow space for talks on a long-term deal on Tehran’s nuclear program – if Iran restores access for UN nuclear inspectors, addresses concerns about its stock of enriched uranium, and engages in talks with the United States.

“Without these most basic conditions being met, there is no clear path to a swift diplomatic solution,” Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council. “We are ready for further engagements, diplomatically, in the next week, and beyond to seek to resolve differences.”

Any delay on reimposing sanctions would require a Security Council resolution. If a deal on an extension can’t be reached by the end of Sept. 27, then all UN sanctions will be reimposed.

US REMAINS READY TO ENGAGE, ENVOY SAYS

Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said that while the US voted “no” on Friday, it “does not impede the possibility of real diplomacy,” adding that a return of sanctions on Iran “does not preclude later removal through diplomacy.”

“More importantly, President Trump has continued to reiterate the United States’ ongoing readiness for meaningful, direct, and timebound dialogue with Iran – be it prior to the conclusion of the snapback process on Sept. 27, or after,” she told the council.

French UN Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said that since the 30-day process – known as snapback – was triggered, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Britain had met twice with their Iranian counterpart.

“Our hand remains outstretched to find a negotiated solution,” he told the council before the vote.

Separately, Iran‘s strategic allies Russia and China finalized a draft Security Council resolution late last month that would extend the 2015 deal for six months and urge all parties to immediately resume negotiations. But they have not yet asked for a vote.

Russia and China, which are also parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, have both rejected the Europeans’ bid to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran.

China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong said the attempt to trigger snapback was “detrimental to the diplomatic effort towards an early resumption of talks, and may even bring about catastrophic consequences that are impossible to foresee and forfeit years of diplomatic efforts in one stroke.”

Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya attends the 26th ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain/Pool

Japan does not plan to recognize a Palestinian state at UN meetings this month, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Friday.

But he also said that for Tokyo, which supports a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, it is not a matter of whether to recognize a Palestinian state, but when to recognize it.

“I’m aware voices calling for the recognition as a state are getting louder in the international community as well as in Japan,” Iwaya told a press conference.

“But the government has a responsibility to look hard into what will really lead to a two-state solution and to make diplomatic efforts towards that direction.”

A handful of US allies are preparing to recognize a Palestinian state as world leaders meet at the UN General Assembly in New York next week in the hope of putting pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and seek long-term peace.

Iwaya said Japan does not condone Israel’s unilateral action such as the expansion of its military operations in Gaza, and that Japan will respond if Israel takes further steps that would close the way to the realization of a two-state solution.

Asked if the Japanese response would include sanctions against Israeli ministers over the conflict in Gaza, Iwaya said the government will not exclude any options, including the recognition of a Palestinian state, in weighing its potential moves.