UNITED NATIONS: The United States warned Iran at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday (Oct 2) against targeting it or Israel as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop” in the Middle East.
“Time is running out,” he told the council.
The 15-member council met after Israel killed the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and began a ground assault against the Iran-backed militant group and Iran attacked Israel in a strike that raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
“Our actions have been defensive in nature,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council.
“Let me be clear: The Iranian regime will be held responsible for its actions. And we strongly warn against Iran – or its proxies – taking actions against the United States, or further actions against Israel,” she said.
French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said France wants the Security Council to “show unity and to speak with one voice” to de-escalate the situation. Thomas-Greenfield said the council should condemn Iran’s attack and impose “serious consequences” on Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps for its actions.
“We have a collective responsibility, as members of the Security Council, to impose additional sanctions on the IRGC for supporting terrorism, and for flouting so many of this Council’s resolutions,” the US ambassador said.
