The United Nations will convene an emergency Security Council meeting on Saturday over strikes against the Islamist regime in Iran by the United States and Israel, which U.N. leaders were quick to condemn.
According to the Reuters news agency, the United Nations Security Council will gather on Saturday at around 4 p.m. to discuss Operation Epic Fury, launched by U.S. President Donald Trump to disable the Islamic nation’s missile programme and potentially overthrow its Islamist government.
The meeting will be chaired by the United Kingdom, which currently holds the council presidency. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that, while UK forces are not involved in the operation, British planes are currently “in the sky” over the Middle East as part of a defensive operation.
Starmer, alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, called for Iran to “refrain from indiscriminate military strikes”.
In an address from Downing Street, the UK leader said that “Iran can end this now,” adding: “They should refrain from further strikes, give up their weapons programme and cease the appalling violence and oppression of the Iranian people – who deserve the right to determine their own future.”
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron was quick to call for an “urgent” meeting of the U.N. Security Council in a bid to end the conflict.
This was echoed by Communist China and Russia, who reportedly requested an emergency meeting “in connection with the unprovoked act of armed aggression by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
For his part, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement on Saturday: “I condemn today’s military escalation in the Middle East. The use of force by the United States [and] Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace & security.
All Member States must respect their obligations under international law, including the Charter of the [United Nations]. The Charter clearly prohibits ‘the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations’.”
Guterres called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities [and] de-escalation,” saying that failure to do so would risk a wider regional conflict with “grave consequences for civilians [and] regional stability.”
“I strongly encourage all parties to return immediately to the negotiating table,” the former socialist Portuguese PM said. “I reiterate that there is no viable alternative to the peaceful settlement of international disputes, in full accordance with international law, including the UN Charter. The Charter provides the foundation for the maintenance of international peace and security.”
Speaking from Geneva, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk added: “I deplore the military strikes across Iran this morning by Israel and the United States of America, and the subsequent retaliatory strikes by Iran. As always, in any armed conflict, it is civilians who end up paying the ultimate price.
“Bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but only result in death, destruction and human misery.”
In contrast, the strikes launched by President Trump drew strong support from the typically oppositional left-wing governments in Australia and Canada on Saturday, both of whom said that they support the United States in seeking to prevent the Islamist regime in Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and stopping Iran and its terrorist proxies sowing chaos throughout the region.
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