The United States stands by the “brave people of Iran,” and President Donald Trump "has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the protests against clerical rule.
But on Thursday, Trump adopted a wait‑and‑see posture, saying he had been told that the killings were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions.
"President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations. He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter," Waltz told the Security Council meeting, which Washington had requested.
Waltz dismissed allegations by Iran that the protests are "a foreign plot to give a precursor to military action."
"Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before, and therefore is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets. They are afraid. They're afraid of their own people," Waltz said.
Iran's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Gholamhossein Darzi said Iran does not seek escalation or confrontation and accused Waltz of resorting "to lies, distortion of facts, and a deliberate misinformation campaign to conceal his country’s direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence."
"However, any act of aggression - direct or indirect - will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response," he told the Security Council.
"This is not a threat; it is a statement of legal reality," he added.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of convening the Security Council in a bid to “justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state" and threats to "solve the Iranian problem in its favorite way - through strikes aimed at overthrowing an undesirable regime.”
“We strongly urge the hot heads in Washington and other capitals … to come to their senses,” he said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “maximum restraint at this sensitive moment and calls on all actors to refrain from any actions that could lead to further loss of life or ignite a wider regional escalation,” senior U.N. official Martha Pobee told the council.
“Loud and clear, again and again, we hear the Iranians lift their voices for a better life,” Denmark’s U.N. Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen told the Security Council.
“For too long the leaders in Tehran have not heeded this call. The time has now come for the government of Iran to finally listen, to respond to the will of its people through peaceful means. We urge them to start today.”
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British police are facing a national backlash over their handling of the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed while dying from stab wounds after his attacker falsely claimed to be the victim of a racist assault.
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British police are facing a national backlash over their handling of the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed while dying from stab wounds after his attacker falsely claimed to be the victim of a racist assault.
China is sending doctors, medical teams and emergency supplies to help combat a growing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, joining an international effort to contain the disease before it spreads further.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said they struck a cargo ship owned by the “American-Zionist enemy” with a cruise missile after an Iranian freighter was attacked in the Sea of Oman.
Dutch police have launched an investigation into the use of force against a pregnant woman at an asylum seekers' centre in Zeist after videos of the incident circulated widely on social media.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Monday that his government would begin legal proceedings to remove President Tamás Sulyok if he continues to reject calls to resign.
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