US ambassador to SA welcomes two-week ceasefire in Middle East
US Ambassador Brent Bozell has welcomed the Iran-Israel ceasefire as a step toward stability, expressing hope for lasting peace while highlighting its role in easing tensions and stabilising global oil markets.
US ambassador to South Africa, Brent Bozell, has welcomed the ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran, describing it as a positive step toward stability.
The two-week truce brokered by Pakistan follows 40 days of intense conflict and should ease tensions in the Middle East and reopen the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
This reduces fears of wider regional war and stabilises global oil markets.
Bozell told reporters he hopes for a lasting resolution.
“Any ceasefire that both countries can agree to is a good thing. It's provisional in the sense that Iran has to abide by it,” he said after presenting his credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday.
“I hope that they're going to find a final solution to this conflict and we can go back to where we were before, when Iran wasn't threatening its neighbours, and there was peace, and there was prosperity.”
Bozell, a right-wing media critic and staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, took up the post in February but got off to a rocky start with remarks on South Africa's racial policies and court decisions.
In a brief ceremony at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guest House in the capital, Bozell, alongside his spouse, was welcomed with a guard of honour before he handed over his credentials to Ramaphosa.
"Before I arrived here, I could not tell you how many people told me that in short order, I'd fall in love with the country. It's only taken two months, and I can confirm that has happened," Bozell said.
"We are two nations with great shared values and interests... It's my goal in my time here to build on those shared interests, to build on self-respect, to build on our shared values, to take our two nations to places they've never been," the 70-year-old envoy added.
