A tense meeting at the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday laid bare the deepening global rift over the Iran-Israel conflict, as member states clashed over the legality of US and Israeli airstrikes and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The meeting came just days after a fragile ceasefire ended the 12-day war between Iran and Israel that drew in the United States and marked the most direct military confrontation between the parties in decades.
“Diplomacy and dialogue are the only path to resolving the unnecessary crisis over Iran's peaceful program,” said Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani. He accused the United States and Israel of launching an illegal war on Iran.
Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon said, "If there were a Nobel prize for deception, the Iranian regime would win it every single year."
Iran’s actions, Danon said, left no room for trust. “While the diplomats and politicians talked, Iran built. While you negotiated, they enriched. While you hoped, they lied.”
“These strikes, in accordance with the inherent right to self-defense, collective self-defense, consistent with the UN Charter, aimed to mitigate the threat posed by Iran to Israel, the region, and to more broadly international peace and security,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, the US Ambassador to the UN.
“We must all urge Iran to seize this opportunity for peace and prosperity and abide by its international obligations.”
US forces Iranian nuclear sites - Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan - on Saturday, in a mission dubbed "Operation Midnight Hammer."
Nuclear material
Germany raised alarms about the aftermath of the strikes, suggesting Iran may be moving sensitive nuclear materials out of view.
“We are particularly concerned by any possible relocation of nuclear material since the recent military strikes,” said Germany’s ambassador to the UN.
Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said: “The situation remains extremely fragile... It is critical that Iran does not miss this window for diplomacy.”
Woodward warned that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is now “40 times the limit set by the JCPOA” and stressed, “It is urgent that the IAEA have full access, especially on Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles.”
Russia, in contrast, condemned the Israeli and American airstrikes.
“The actions of the US and Israel directly violated the UN Charter,” said Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya.
“They constitute a direct and very dangerous challenge to the authority of the NPT, especially Iran’s right guaranteed under Article 4 of the treaty to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including uranium enrichment.”
