Iran called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sunday in an attempt to address the US bombing of three of Iran’s nuclear sites on June 21. However, the council meeting proved to be an extension of the global reaction the attacks have elicited, without offering any substantial resolution to the conflict.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the 15-member council: “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“To avoid it, diplomacy must prevail,” he stressed.
He emphasised on the importance of protecting civilian lives, and that the focus of the negotiations should be brought back to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations Miroslav Jenča said, “I fear we are now in that dangerous moment.” He noted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to fire 40 missiles at Israel in retaliation.
IAEA’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that craters are visible at the Fordow site — Iran’s main location for enriching uranium at 60%, indicating the use by the United States of ground penetrating munitions. At the Isfahan nuclear site, additional buildings were hit overnight, with the United States confirming their use of cruise missiles.
Affected buildings include some related to the uranium conversion process. Ground penetrative munitions have also been used on Natanz, the third and largest nuclear enrichment centre in Iran.
Delegates from different nations weighed in during the meeting: The representative of the Russian Federation said calling on Iran for restraint is hypocritical as if it were Iran, not Israel and the United States, escalating the situation. Iraq’s delegate condemned repeated violations of Iraq’s airspace as breaches of its sovereignty and the UN Charter.
Maintaining a conciliatory position, the South Korean representative stated that Seoul remains firmly convinced that “no sustainable resolution to this crisis can be achieved through military means alone.”
However, US speaker Dorothy Shea defended its military strikes “This operation sought to eliminate a long standing but rapidly escalating source of global insecurity and to aid our ally Israel in our inherent right of collective self-defence, consistent with the UN Charter.”
Backing their long-time ally, Israel representative Danny Danon commented, “A nuclear Iran would have been a death sentence, just as much for you as it would have been for us.”
“The United States, the leader of the free world, removed the greatest existential threat facing the free world,” he added.
Israel launched a surprise barrage of attacks on sites in Iran on June 13.
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani countered, “Iran reserves its full and legitimate right, under international law, to defend itself against this blatant US aggression and its Israeli proxy. The timing, nature, and scale of Iran’s proportionate response will be decided by its armed forces.”
According to him, instead of granting parties the legitimate right to peaceful nuclear energy, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been exploited as a pretext for aggression and unlawful action that jeopardize the interests of Iran.
He ended the address with, “This is a historic test for this Council, for the United Nations as a whole,” he stressed. “If this Council fails to act and condemn this blatant aggression, the stain of complicity will forever remain on its conscience, as it does with Gaza.”
The UN Security Council thus ended without any clear resolution or progress. The Iranian Parliament has voted in favour of closing the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most crucial oil shipping routes, on Sunday, in response to recent US airstrikes.
Russia is ready to help Iran in various ways, depending on what Tehran requests, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. “Everything depends on what Iran needs,” Peskov said in response to a question at a briefing, according to AP.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who has warned of additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against US forces, has mused about the possibility of “regime change” in Iran, despite administration officials earlier indicating they wanted to restart talks with Iran.