UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appealed to global leaders to end ongoing conflicts, delivering his message on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Speaking to Euronews, Guterres singled out the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East as particularly alarming, and called for a resumption of negotiations between Iran and the United States after strikes he said had recently restarted, urging full restoration of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. The SCO — a Eurasian political and security bloc marking its 25th anniversary and representing over 40% of the world's population — brought together leaders including Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, giving Guterres a rare direct audience with key parties to several of the world's most active conflicts.