by Stefano Vaccara NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) – The United Nations Security Council has consumed one of the most thesis diplomatic comparisons of recent years, after the military attack launched by the United States and Israel against Iran and the subsequent response of Tehran against American and allied goals in the region. In the afternoon at the Glass Palace, in front of the fifteen members of the Council, there were very serious interventions, reciprocal accusations and a direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran that showed all the depth of the crisis. The debate was opened by Secretary General Antònio Guterres, who denounced an extremely dangerous situation for international stability. The UN leader condemned both the bombings of the United States and Israel against Iran and the subsequent Iranian retaliation in the region, recalling that the UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of the States. Guterres spoke of a “grave threat to international peace and security”, warning that military escalation could trigger a chain of events impossible to control in the most unstable region of the world. In his speech he also reported that the situation on the ground remains “very fluid”, citing news that about twenty Iranian cities would have been hit in raids and that several high officials would have been killed, including – according to Israeli sources – even the Supreme Ali Khamenei Guide. The Secretary-General complained that a diplomatic opportunity was “disprecated”, recalling that the raids occurred while indirect negotiations were underway between Washington and Tehran mediated by Oman. “There is no credible alternative to the peaceful solution of international disputes,” he insisted, calling for immediate ceasefire and return to negotiations. The words of Guterres provoked an immediate reaction from Israel. The Israeli ambassador to UN Danny Danon defended the military operation by calling it necessary to stop an “existential threat” represented by the Iranian nuclear program and Tehran’s support for armed militias in the region. Danon accused the Iranian regime of having built missiles, enriched uranium and armed groups like Hezbollah and Hamas while continuing to invoke the destruction of Israel. After the meeting, the Israeli ambassador also publicly criticized Guterres on X for condemning the American and Israeli bombings in the same sentence and the Iranian response. “Vergogna”, he wrote. US ambassador Mike Waltz strongly defended the military operation, presented as part of the “Operation Epic Fury”. “This is a time of history that requires moral clarity,” he said, claiming that the United States acted to dismantle Iranian missile capabilities, weaken its naval forces and permanently prevent Tehran from equipping a nuclear weapon. Waltz accused Iran of destabilising the Middle East for decades through support for armed groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthi, and recalled that the Security Council itself imposed numerous sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program over the years. The Iranian ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, who called the attack of the United States and Israel “a premeditated aggression” and “a war crime”. According to Tehran, the bombings would deliberately hit civilian areas in several Iranian cities. Iravani accused Washington of manipulating the facts to justify illegal action and argued that his country is exercising the “legitimate right to self-defense” provided for in Article 51 of the UN Charter. “This is a war against the United Nations Charter and against the international legal order,” he said. The comparison between the United States and Iran has become even more texodus in the final stages of the meeting, when the two ambassadors asked again the word accusing each other. The Iranian representative denounced American declarations as offensive and provocative, while Waltz responded by stating that he did not feel compelled to use diplomatic tones with a regime that, he said, “masses his civilians and threatens his neighbors.” Other members of the Council also expressed strong positions. Russia, with Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, denounced the raids of Washington and Tel Aviv as “an act of uninduced armed aggression” and a “tradiment of diplomacy”, accusing the West of derailing the negotiations. China has defined the “faded” attacks and insisted that Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected. France emphasised the need to protect regional stability and condemned the missiles launched by Iran against different Gulf countries, while the United Kingdom declared that it had not taken part in the raid but shared concern for the Iranian nuclear program, reasserting that Tehran should never get an atomic weapon. The debate has closed without any immediate decision of the Council, but with the clear feeling that the crisis risks to escape quickly. At the Palazzo di Vetro, between cross accusations and references to international law, diplomacy once again showed all its fragility in front of the new military escalation in the Middle East. -photo Ipa Agency – (ITALPRESS).
