UN Security Council holds emergency meeting on Middle East escalation
The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency session following large-scale airstrikes on Iran by the United States and Israel, with Secretary-General António Guterres warning of a “grave threat to international peace and security,” Qazinform News Agency reports citing the UN website.
Addressing ambassadors, Guterres cautioned that military action in the Middle East risks “igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region in the world.” He stressed that “everything must be done to prevent further escalation” after Tehran launched retaliatory attacks across the region.
Iran’s UN ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani described the conflict as a violation of the UN Charter and international law, while Pakistan’s representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad condemned Iran’s strikes as “blatant violations of the sovereignty of the brotherly Gulf States.” He also denounced the killing of a Pakistani national in the United Arab Emirates, reportedly caused by falling debris linked to a missile strike.
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon has addressed the UN Security Council, saying that the US and Israel had acted to “confront and stop an existential threat before it became irreversible”.
“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,” he said.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned Iran’s targeting of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan.