Davos hosts UN chief, top diplomats of US, Iran as World Economic Forum meeting reaches Day Two

As the World Economic Forum’s annual conference enters its second day on Wednesday, Iran’s and the United States’ top diplomats will hold public — and separate — one-on-one meetings, while the United Nations Secretary-General and the leaders of France, Argentina, and Spain will give addresses.

The elite gathering in the Swiss ski resort of Davos shifts its focus to environmental and climate concerns, which have prompted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call on the world to take more united action against global warming following a record-breaking year in 2023.

Experts and politicians will discuss challenges such as securing a sustainable Middle East and North Africa, reducing plastic waste, and even finding strategies to preserve life on Earth in the face of mounting threats to biodiversity.

After a day of meetings on Monday, including one with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to speak with New York Times writer Tom Friedman on air. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian will talk with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

On Tuesday, US forces led a new strike against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, known as Houthis, who have been troubling Red Sea shipping lanes in recent weeks by firing missiles against vessels off the coast of the impoverished and divided Arabic Peninsula country. It came hours after one missile strike earlier Tuesday hit a US vessel.

The Yemeni rebels have carried out the campaign in response to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group carried out a murderous rampage in Israel and seized hostages.

French President Emmanuel Macron, recently reappointed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Argentina’s new president — self-described “anarcho-capitalist” Javier Milei — will take the podium Wednesday afternoon, after a morning address by Guterres.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy shuttled from room to room to meet with CEOs, financiers and political leaders and made a speech blasting his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, over Moscow’s long-running military campaign in Ukraine and seeking more Western support when Ukraine’s allies are showing signs of war fatigue.

“Please, strengthen our economy, and we will strengthen your security,” the Ukrainian leader said.