Security Council holds urgent meeting on Mideast tensions after terror chiefs killed
US urges UN members with influence over Tehran ‘to increase pressure on it to stop escalating its proxy conflict against Israel and other actors’; Iran envoy calls to punish Israel
United Nations Security Council countries on Wednesday called for stepped-up diplomatic efforts to avert a wider Middle East conflict after the killings of two terror leaders raised tensions.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday, sparking threats of revenge against Israel and fueling concern the Gaza conflict was turning into a wider Middle East war.
The assassination occurred less than 24 hours after Hezbollah’s most senior military commander was killed in an Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut in retaliation for a rocket attack in Golan Heights that killed 12 children.
“We fear the region is at the brink of all-out war,” Japan’s deputy UN representative, Shino Mitsuko, said on Wednesday, urging international efforts to prevent such a conflict.
China, Russia, Algeria and others condemned Haniyeh’s assassination, which Iran’s UN ambassador called “an aggressive act of terrorism by the Zionist occupying regime of Israel,” while the US, UK and France raised what they said was Iranian support for destabilizing actors in the region.
No collective message was issued after the meeting.
Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the UN, said failure to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught was responsible for worsening tensions.
“Countries with major influence must put more pressure and work more vigorously … to put out the flames of war in Gaza,” he said.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward urged calm and restraint, reiterating a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. She called for a renewed peace process that would result in a two-state solution with a secure Israel and a sovereign Palestinian state.
“The path to peace must be through diplomatic negotiations. Long-term peace will not be secured by bombs and bullets.”
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the UN, called for members of the Security Council with influence over Iran “to increase pressure on it to stop escalating its proxy conflict against Israel and other actors.”
“We call on the Security Council to send an unambiguous message to Hezbollah by standing with Israel as it defends itself against Hezbollah’s repeated attacks,” he said, while noting Iranian support for Yemen’s Houthi rebels and armed groups in Syria and Iraq.
Turning to Haniyeh’s killing, Wood called “not to speculate on the impact that recent events may have on peace and security in the Middle East.”
“A broader war is neither imminent nor inevitable, although the opportunistic attacks by Iran and its network of terrorist proxies and partners across the region have repeatedly brought us closer to a regional conflict,” he continued. “For our part, the United States will continue to lead the way in diplomatic efforts to end the war in Gaza and reduce regional tensions.”
“We will continue to work hard to prevent a broader regional war,” he added, saying “that starts… with finalizing an agreement for an immediate ceasefire with the release of hostages in Gaza.”
Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Tehran has consistently exercised maximum restraint but reserved its right to respond decisively. He called on the Security Council to condemn Israel and punish it with sanctions.
Israel’s deputy representative to the UN, Jonathan Miller, called on the Security Council to condemn Iran for support of regional terrorism and increase sanctions on Tehran, while saying those who want peace and stability in the Middle East “should welcome the removal of arch terrorists, not call on both sides to restrain themselves.”
“We will defend ourselves and respond with great force against those who harm us,” Miller said, calling on the world to support Israel.
