New Delhi: Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Friday (January 30) warned that any military attack on Iran would have “negative” and potentially catastrophic consequences for West Asia and beyond, while defending Arab states’ decision to support a US-backed Board of Peace on Gaza as a necessary attempt to halt the ongoing war.Speaking at a public event at the Indian Council of World Affairs moderated by former diplomat Talmiz Ahmad, Aboul Gheit said Gulf countries had consistently opposed military escalation and favoured diplomacy.“If such an event happens, it will be negative for the region and for everyone else,” he said, referring to the possibility of an attack on Iran. “It will be a disaster for the peace of the world.”He was responding to a question on US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he had dispatched a naval armada to the Gulf, fuelling fears of military action against Iran.Aboul Gheit sought to play down the significance of the deployment, noting that the US Fifth Fleet has been headquartered in Bahrain since 1995 and that American forces have maintained a presence in the region since 1945.“The presence of the American troops in the Gulf, Bahrain, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean is not a new development,” he said, adding that what had changed was “the politics and policies” in Washington.“I am not taken in by [the] declarations of Americans,” the former Egyptian foreign minister said. “Yes, they want to settle from that point of view, thinking that Iran is a nuclear country.”On Gaza, Aboul Gheit said Arab states had backed Trump’s Board of Peace initiative because it marked the first time Washington had called for a ceasefire after former President Joe Biden vetoed four UN Security Council resolutions demanding an end to the fighting.“We have had a president in Washington who admitted that he was a Zionist himself. He supported Israel directly as a Zionist,” Aboul Gheit said, referring to Biden. “Four times there have been calls in the Security Council and draft resolutions presented calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, and the American administration at the time vetoed them all.”Most Gulf Arab states signed on to the Board of Peace last week in Davos, despite widespread scepticism about its structure. India has received an invitation but has not responded, while several European countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden, have declined, citing concerns that the body could undermine the United Nations.“When I heard for the first time that the American president himself, in person, was committing himself to lead a council or a board to supervise a settlement, well, welcome!,” Aboul Gheit said. “Between someone who was saying ‘I am the strongest adviser and supporter to Israel, I am a Zionist’ and a president who says ‘I am for peace and for the ending of the killing and ending the conflict’, if we are logical, we have to try.”He acknowledged that the Board of Peace raised unresolved questions, particularly over funding, oversight, its relationship with the United Nations and the exclusion of the Palestinian Authority from the executive committee. “How the implementation will proceed remains to be seen,” he stated.On Israel’s stated opposition to Palestinian statehood, Aboul Gheit said occupying powers rarely conceded political demands willingly. “An occupying power will never tell you, ‘Yes, sir, you are permitted to do so,’” he said, drawing parallels with colonial rule.The Arab League chief also described the international system as increasingly unstable, saying he believed the world was already in a new Cold War phase. “I claim that we are in the midst of a Cold War,” he said, arguing that the American empire had entered a period of decline that Washington was attempting to arrest.“There is no way for a new order to emerge without war,” Aboul Gheit said, citing the creation of the United Nations after the Second World War and earlier conflicts that reshaped global governance.Asked how the current turbulence might resolve, he demurred. “In all honesty, I don’t know. The situation is very fluid.”Earlier in the day, Aboul Gheit met external affairs minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi. In a post on X, Jaishankar said the two had held a “warm” meeting and exchanged views on “recent developments in the region”.On India-Arab ties, Aboul Gheit struck an optimistic note, praising India’s achievements and pointing to the large Indian workforce across the Gulf. “The Arabs understand the potential of India,” he said, while acknowledging that momentum in ties had slowed in recent years.Aboul Gheit is in New Delhi for the second meeting of Arab and Indian foreign ministers, being held on Saturday after a gap of ten years. He also inaugurated the Arab-Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.