UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that the United States’ bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities marks a “perilous turn” in an already volatile region.
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the escalation.
“We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation. To avoid it, diplomacy must prevail.”
The UN’s top nuclear watchdog official also cautioned that violence could reach “unthinkable levels”, and that the global non-proliferation regime “as we know it could crumble and fall”.
Guterres has called for civilians to be protected and for safe maritime navigation to be guaranteed, calling for the immediate and decisive halt in fighting and a return to “serious, sustained negotiations” on the Iran nuclear programme.
“We need a credible, comprehensive and verifiable solution — one that restores trust — including with full access to inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
Hours after the United States strikes, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched some 40 missiles at Israel. Israel has also said it launched a series of strikes against military targets in Iran, including in Tehran, Tabriz and Yazd.
Earlier on 21 June, Israel attacked, for a second time since 13 June, the Isfahan nuclear complex, hitting six buildings.
According to Iran’s Ministry of Health, as of 21 June, 430 people have been killed and more than 3,500 others injured due to Israeli strikes across Iran. “Most have been civilians,” he said.
According to Israeli authorities, 25 Israelis have been killed and 1,300 more have been injured since the beginning of exchanges with Iran.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA’s Director General, said that craters are visible at the Fordow site — Iran’s main location for enriching uranium at 60 per cent, indicating the use by the United States of ground penetrating munitions.
“At this time, no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordow.”
Iran has informed the IAEA that there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels.
The representative of the Russian Federation told the Security Council that calling on Iran for restraint is hypocritical, as it is Israel and the United States that are escalating the situation.
“Washington has reasserted that to further the interests of its Israeli ally, its prepared not only to turn a blind eye to the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinian women, children and older persons, but also to gamble with the safety and well-being of humanity.”
China’s delegate echoed Moscow’s calls for Council members to support the draft resolution that would condemn the attacks on Iran´s nuclear installations, saying the Security Council cannot stand idly by in the face of a major crisis.
The speaker for the United States defended its military strikes on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities as a move to dismantle Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and stop the nuclear threat by what it claims is the world’s foremost State sponsor of terrorism.
“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.”
She said for 40 years, the Iranian Government has called for “death to America” and “death to Israel” and “posed as a constant menace” to the peace and security of its neighbours, the United States and the entire world.
Israel’s representative said the United States has removed the “greatest existential threat” facing the free world.
“Just like our Operation Rising Lion, this was not a war of choice, this action was a necessity, it was a righteous act. Thank you to the United States for removing the greatest threat to global security.”
Iran’s representative told council members that its armed forces will decide on the timing, nature and scale of its proportionate response to United States’ use of illegal force.
“The internationally wanted war criminal Netanyahu succeeded in hijacking US foreign policy, dragging the United States into yet another costly, baseless war.”
He rejected all allegations against Iran as unfounded and politically motivated.
He added Iran was preparing for the next round of diplomatic engagement with the United States on 15 June, only for Israel to strike two days before those could take place.
“From the perspective of Western countries, Iran must return to the negotiating table. But as Iran’s Foreign Minister mentioned, how can Iran return to something it never left.”
He added that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been exploited as a pretext for aggression and unlawful action that jeopardize the interests of Iran.
“For decades, Israel, an outlaw nuclear armed regime that refused to join the NPT, promoted the false narrative that Iran is on the cusp of acquiring a nuclear weapon, without “one shred of evidence.”
“This is a historic test for this Council, for the United Nations as a whole. 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.”