US, Israel clash with Iran in UNSC
United Nations, Mar 1: The US and Israel clashed with Iran in the UN Security Council as Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that military action in the Middle East risks igniting uncontrollable ìchain of eventsî in the worldís most volatile region.
ìWe are witnessing a grave threat to international peace and security. Military action carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world,î Guterres told the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council Saturday.
The powerful 15-nation UN body met just hours after the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran and the subsequent attacks by Tehran.
Guterres condemned the massive military strikes by the US and Israel against Iran as well as attacks by Tehran ìviolating the sovereignty and territorial integrityî of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
ìIn Tehran, large explosions were reported in the district that includes the presidential palace and the compound of the Supreme Leader. Several high-ranking officials have reportedly been killed, including ñ according to Israeli sources ñ Iranís Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, that I am not in a position to confirm,î Guterres said.
As the UNSC meeting was underway in the UN headquarters in New York, US President Donald Trump, currently in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, announced the Ayatollahís death in a post on Truth Social.
ìKhamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,î Trump said.
Trump warned that the ìheavy and pinpoint bombingî will continue, ìuninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!î
Guterres asserted that the region and the world need a way out now and called for de-escalation and immediate cessation of hostilities.
ìThe alternative is a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability,î he said.
In the UN meeting, the US and Israel clashed with Iran at the Security Council horse-shoe table, with Washingtonís envoy telling the international community that ìhistory has taught us that the cost of inaction is far greater than the burden of decisive action. And our President, President Trump, has taken that decisive action today.
"...this is a moment in history that requires moral clarity, and President Trump has met the moment. The most fundamental duty of any sovereign government is the protection of its people,î Ambassador Mike Waltz, US Representative to the United Nations, said.
"Iran's continued pursuit of advanced missile capabilities, coupled with its refusal to abandon nuclear ambitions despite diplomatic opportunities, presents a grave and mounting danger."
"The international community has long affirmed a simple and necessary principle: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That principle is not a matter of politics; it is a matter of global security. And to that end, the United States is taking lawful actions,î Waltz said, adding that ìwhere the UN lacks moral clarity, the United States of America will maintain it.î
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the Council that his country acted with the United States to "confront and stop an existential threat before it became irreversible."
The operation targets nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile sites, the machinery of repression that fuels terror across our region. We did not act of impulse. We did not act of aggression. We acted out of necessity, because the Iranian regime left no reasonable alternative. This joint effort will continue for as long as the threat remains,î Danon said.
Iranís ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani said the US and Israel "initiated an unprovoked and premeditated aggressionî against his country for the second time in the recent months.
He termed ìthe aggression and atrocious crime of the United States regime and the Israeli regime and the deliberate and persistent targeting of civilian infrastructureî as ìnot only an act of aggression, it is a war crime and a crime against humanity.î
Iravani said the attack against a school in Minab, a city in the Hormozgan province of southern Iran killed more than 100 children.
He said the Security Council must immediately determine that the United States and Israel have committed an act of aggression, and demand the immediate cessation of its "unlawful use of force."
"Israel and the United States have attacked Iran. They have violated international law and the Charter of the United Nations. They must be held accountable. So long as this aggression continues, Iran will continue to exercise its inherent right of self-defense firmly, proportionately and without hesitation, until the aggression ends. The Security Council must act now and stop this act of aggression immediately. Silence is complicity in this crime," the Iranian envoy said.
Iravani and Waltz also engaged in a rare clash of words, with the Iranian envoy telling Waltz to be ìpolite" to which the American diplomat said ìFrankly, I'm not going to dignify this with another response, especially as this representative sits here in this body, representing a regime that has killed tens of thousands of its own people and imprisoned many more simply for wanting freedom from your tyranny.î
