United Nations Security Council (UNSC). PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
UNITED NATIONS:
World leaders on Saturday reacted cautiously to attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran that raised concerns of a broader conflict.
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting, called at the request of Bahrain and France. The meeting will take place at 4 pm (local time, 2 am PST on Sunday).
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the heads of UN agencies condemned Saturday’s joint Israeli and US strikes against Iran and Iranian retaliatory strikes against Israel and the Persian Gulf regions.
“I condemn today’s military escalation in the Middle East,” the U.N. chief said in a statement as French President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Department of Security to address the attacks, which have targeted Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure.
In his statement, UN chief Guterres declared that the military escalation in the region undermines international peace and security, and recalled that all Member States must “respect their obligations under international law, including the Charter of the United Nations”, which 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.”
He called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a reduction in tensions, warning that failure to do so risks a broader regional conflict with serious consequences for civilians and regional stability.
Senior officials added their own responses on Saturday morning: Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but “only result in death, destruction and human misery.” Civilians, he noted, “end up paying the ultimate price.”
Turk called on all sides to return to negotiations to avoid a broader conflict that would mean more civilian deaths and “destruction on a potentially unimaginable scale, not only in Iran but throughout the Middle East region.”
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement that he was deeply concerned about the situation and urged leaders to “choose the challenging path of dialogue rather than the senseless path of destruction.”
Perhaps wary of upsetting already strained relations with U.S. President Donald Trump, many nations refrained from commenting directly or intentionally on the joint attacks but condemned Tehran’s retaliation. Like Europeans, governments across the Middle East condemned Iran’s attacks on its Arab neighbors and remained silent on U.S. military action.
Other countries were more explicit: Australia and Canada expressed open support for the US attacks, while Russia and China responded with direct criticism.
The United States and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, with US President Donald Trump calling on the Iranian public to “take control of their destiny” by rising up against the Islamic theocracy that has ruled the nation since 1979. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones at Israel and US military bases in the Middle East.
In a statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on the United States and Iran to resume talks and said they favored a negotiated agreement. They said their countries were not involved in the attacks on Iran but are in close contact with the United States, Israel and their partners in the region.
The three countries have led efforts to reach a negotiated solution over Iran’s nuclear program.
“We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military attacks. We call for the resumption of negotiations and urge Iranian leaders to seek a negotiated solution. Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future,” they said.
Later, at an emergency security meeting, Macron said France was “neither warned nor involved” in the attacks. He called for intensifying efforts for a negotiated solution, saying that “no one can think that the issues of Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic activity and regional destabilization will be resolved with attacks alone.”
The 22-nation Arab League called the Iranian attacks “a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of countries that advocate peace and strive for stability.” That coalition of nations has historically condemned both Israel and Iran for actions it says risk destabilizing the region.
Countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, including Morocco, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, reported Iranian attacks on US military bases in the region, including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the Emirates.
Saudi Arabia said it “condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the treasonous Iranian aggression and the flagrant violation of sovereignty.”
Oman, which has been mediating talks between Iran and the United States, said in a statement that the US action “constitutes a violation of the norms of international law and the principle of resolving disputes by peaceful means, rather than through hostility and bloodshed.”
Countries in Europe and the Middle East used careful wording, avoiding the perception that they support unilateral American action or are directly condemning the United States.
Others were more direct. Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the attacks “a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent member state of the UN.” The ministry accused Washington and Tel Aviv of “hiding behind” concerns about Iran’s nuclear program while actually seeking regime change.
Similarly, China’s government said it was “very concerned” about the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and called for an immediate end to military action and a return to negotiations. “Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity must be respected,” a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his country supports the United States in its efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining an atomic bomb. He described Iran’s current leadership as a destabilizing force and highlighted two attacks on Australian soil attributed to Tehran. Last August, Australia cut diplomatic relations with Iran and expelled its ambassador after accusing him of orchestrating two anti-Semitic attacks in the country.
Despite recent tensions with the United States, Canada also expressed support for military action. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is the main source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East,” said Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank said they were largely unfazed when the war broke out on Saturday, barely pausing as booms echoed across the sky from Israel’s Iron Dome intercepting missiles above.
Unlike Israel, Palestinian cities do not have warning sirens or bomb shelters, despite the risk of falling debris or errant missiles. As people sheltered less than 10 miles away in Jerusalem, the streets of Ramallah were packed with shoppers browsing meat counters, vegetable stalls and Ramadan sweets, some stopping to record the sounds of distant sirens and intercepted missiles.
But when Israel closed checkpoints to the movement of people and goods on Saturday, gas stations saw longer-than-usual queues as residents filled spare canisters in case of supply disruptions.
Nervousness is noticeable in many countries, as people fear a large-scale war affecting the region. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he was concerned that the failure of negotiations between the United States and Iran would mean a “new extensive war in the Middle East.”
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, condemned in harsher words the attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran. “These attacks are totally irresponsible and risk causing further escalation as well as increasing the danger of nuclear proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons,” said its executive director, Melissa Parke.
EU leaders issued a joint statement on Saturday calling for restraint and engaging in regional diplomacy in the hope of “ensuring nuclear security.”
“We call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, protect civilians and fully respect international law,” said the statement from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
The Arab League also called on all international parties “to work to reduce tensions as soon as possible, spare the region the scourge of instability and violence, and return to dialogue.”
