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The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran and called for an immediate return to negotiations to pull the region and the world back from the brink of a wider war.
Guterres said the US and Israeli airstrikes violated international law, including the UN Charter. He also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks, saying they violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the UN chief said everything must be done to prevent further escalation.
He warned that the alternative is a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.
The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, insisted that the US military action was lawful. He told the Security Council that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
He added that this principle is not a matter of politics, but a matter of global security.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon defended the airstrikes as necessary to stop what he described as an existential threat.
He said Israel is stopping extremism before it becomes unstoppable. He added that Israel will ensure that no radical regime armed with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles can threaten its people or the entire world.
Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the Council that the airstrikes have killed and injured hundreds of Iranian civilians, which he called a war crime and a crime against humanity.
He criticised the United Nations and the Security Council for not heeding Tehran’s warnings about what he described as warmongering statements by the United States in recent weeks, and urged the Council to act immediately.
