RIYADH, September 9. /TASS/. The United States’ pursuit for preserving its monopoly in the Middle East has failed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following his participation in a meeting of the Strategic Dialogue between Russia and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf (GCC).

"Washington wants to maintain its monopoly on any processes in the Middle East. We have already been able to see for ourselves that this stance is doomed to fail. Today's discussion with our colleagues from the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf fully confirmed this," he said, commenting on reports that the United States, Qatar and Egypt were about to offer Israel and Hamas an "either-or" ultimatum ceasefire agreement.

Lavrov noted that ultimatums of this sort were tantamount to "an invitation to continue the bloodshed."

He explained that repeated initiatives for resolving the conflict, which had been put forward by Russia and other countries, have been repeatedly blocked by the United States. The Russian foreign minister added that there should be "an immediate cease-fire" and recalled that the root of the conflict's problem was the "80-year-old unresolved issue of the establishment of a Palestinian state."

The United States and the EU, Lavrov pointed out, have destroyed the Middle East Quartet, which included Russia, the UN, the United States and the European Union, and are now putting forward "absolutely unsuccessful" initiatives. "At this stage we are probably one of the very few countries that communicates with all parties to the conflict without exception," the Russian foreign minister concluded.

The situation in the Middle East escalated sharply after the infiltration of militants from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, accompanied by killings of civilians in border settlements and hostage-taking. In response, Israel declared a complete blockade of Gaza and carried out strikes against it and parts of Lebanon and Syria before launching a ground operation in the enclave.