Trump to hold Iran summit with Gulf leaders next week: Report

WASHINGTON, DC

Iranian commuters pass a huge anti-US billboard reading in Persian, "The devil army will be drowned in the Persian Gulf", erected on Enghelab Square in Tehran, on September 14, 2026. (AFP Photo)

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week to discuss next steps in the war with Iran, the Axios news site reported on Sept. 16, citing three sources with direct knowledge.

Axios said the meeting is expected to focus on U.S. ideas for a postwar strategy, with the Trump administration working on a broader “day-after” plan expected to be finalized after the U.S. midterm elections in November.

Leaders or foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, are expected to attend the meeting on Sept. 22, according to the report.

The meeting could expand to include other Arab and Muslim leaders, it added.

The State Department sent initial invitations on Sept. 16, Axios reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also wants to meet with Trump in New York, but no meeting has been scheduled, according to the report.

The report came as Trump said on Sept. 16 that Iran has reached out directly to Washington and wants to make a deal, as he described the current state of the war as nearing its conclusion.

Asked how he would describe what phase of the war the U.S. is in, Trump said: “Hopefully we are towards the end of the war.”

“They want to make a deal, and we’ll see how that works out,” he told reporters upon landing in North Carolina.

Asked whether he had heard from Iran directly or through intermediaries, Trump said he had heard from them directly.

The U.S. and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran in February, prompting Iranian missile and drone strikes against Israel and U.S bases across the region.

The conflict has since expanded across the region, with diplomatic efforts continuing to end the hostilities.

In a related development, human rights experts commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body say they have found “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including on a school in the southern city of Minab.

The international fact-finding mission on Iran said the findings center on a pair of airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.

“The mission found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” the fact-finding team said in a statement.