\n<\/p>\n
Tensions soar at the UN as Iran and its allies condemn US military actions, while the US and Israel reject censure.<\/em><\/p>\n The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has convened an emergency session after the US-led strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, prompting sharp rebukes from several member states and renewed calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East, while allies Israel and the US lauded the attack.<\/p>\n Russia, China and Pakistan have proposed a resolution demanding an \u201cimmediate and unconditional ceasefire\u201d, according to diplomats familiar with the draft circulated on Sunday. While the proposal does not explicitly name the United States or Israel, it condemns the attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. A vote has not yet been scheduled.<\/p>\n To pass, the resolution requires the backing of at least nine members and no vetoes from the five permanent members \u2013 China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US. This makes it a non-starter since the US will not censure itself.<\/p>\n Speaking to the UNSC, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the region was standing \u201con the brink of a deadly downward spiral\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,\u201d Guterres said. \u201cWe now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation. We must act \u2013 immediately and decisively \u2013 to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear programme.\u201d<\/p>\n Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea defended the military action, saying that Washington had moved to dismantle Iran\u2019s enrichment capacity to protect both US citizens and allies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe time finally came for the United States, in defence of its ally and our own interests, to act decisively,\u201d Shea told the chamber. \u201cIran should not escalate\u2026 Any Iranian attack, direct or indirect, against Americans or American bases will be met with devastating retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s ambassador, Ali Bahreini, said the Israeli and US attacks on Iran did not come about \u201cin a vacuum\u201d and were the result of \u201cpolitically motivated actions\u201d of the US and its European partners.<\/p>\n He said the US \u201cdecided to destroy diplomacy\u201d. He pointedly made it clear that the Iranian military will decide on the\u00a0 \u201ctiming, nature and scale\u201d of its response.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Israel\u2019s UN envoy, Danny Danon, said the attacks had made the world \u201ca safer place\u201d, rejecting calls for condemnation. When asked whether Israel supported regime change in Tehran, he said, \u201cThat\u2019s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.\u201d<\/p>\n China\u2019s ambassador, Fu Cong, condemned the US strikes and urged restraint. \u201cWe call for an immediate ceasefire,\u201d he said. \u201cChina is deeply concerned about the risk of the situation getting out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s UN envoy, Vasily Nebenzya, described the attacks as yet another sign of Washington\u2019s disregard for global norms. \u201cThe US has opened a Pandora\u2019s box,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one knows what catastrophe or suffering will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n Pakistan\u2019s ambassador, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, also condemned the US bombing as deeply troubling. \u201cThe sharp rise in tensions and violence as a result of Israeli aggression and unlawful actions is profoundly disturbing,\u201d he said. \u201cPakistan stands in solidarity with the government and brotherly people of Iran during this challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n This comment comes a day after Pakistan suggested that US President Donald Trump be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s announcement that US forces had \u201cobliterated\u201d Iran\u2019s key nuclear sites marked the most significant Western military action against Tehran since the 1979 revolution.<\/p>\n The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, told the UNSC that while the scale of underground damage remained unclear, impact craters were visible at the Fordow enrichment site. The entrances to tunnels at the Isfahan site appeared to have been struck, while Natanz \u2013 long a target of Israeli sabotage \u2013 had been hit again.<\/p>\n Iran has castigated Grossi for being complicit in paving the way for Israel and the US to attack it.<\/p>\n The IAEA\u2019s Board of Governors approved a resolution declaring Iran was not complying with its commitment to international nuclear safeguards the day before Israel launched its initial attack on June 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tensions soar at the UN as Iran and its allies condemn US military actions, while the US and Israel reject censure. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has convened an emergency session after the US-led strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, prompting sharp rebukes from several member states and renewed calls for a ceasefire in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[267,788,150,1499,1496,1497,1500,1498,1501],"class_list":{"0":"post-9340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-conflict","9":"tag-key","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-perilous","12":"tag-players","13":"tag-tangle","14":"tag-turn","15":"tag-unsc","16":"tag-usisraeliran"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}