(United Nations) A senior UN official on Monday called on “all parties” to prevent a further escalation of tensions in the Middle East at a Security Council meeting where China and Russia accused the United States of United to add fuel to the fire.
“I call on the Council to continue to actively cooperate with all parties to prevent further escalation and worsening of tensions that undermine regional peace and security,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary. DiCarlo during a meeting on US retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria.
“I repeat the Secretary General’s call to all parties to move away from the precipice and take into account the unbearable human and economic cost of a possible regional conflict,” she insisted, without specifically blaming anyone. .
Several Member States echoed this concern, some directly blaming the United States, which defended its strikes in Syria and Iraq in response to the deadly attack on an American base on January 28 in Jordan, attributed in Washington to pro-Iran groups.
“It is clear that the United States’ strikes are specifically and deliberately aimed at fueling conflict,” with the aim of “preserving its position of dominance in the world,” said Russian Ambassador Vassili Nebenzia, whose country had called for this emergency meeting.
“American actions will likely exacerbate the vicious circle of retaliation in the Middle East,” added his Chinese counterpart Jun Zhang, accusing the Americans of having violated the territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq. A position shared by the Algerian representative Amar Bendjama.
Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood defended “necessary and proportionate” actions in the exercise of the “right to self-defense”.
“The United States has no desire for more conflict in a region where we are actively working to contain and de-escalate the conflict in Gaza. We are not seeking a direct conflict with Iran,” he assured, calling on the Council to put pressure on Tehran so that the attacks stop.
The United States carried out strikes last week against 85 targets at four sites in Syria and three in Iraq, targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, and pro-Iranian armed groups, according to Washington.
They promised more strikes in response to the Jan. 28 attack on a U.S. base in Jordan, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, in which three U.S. soldiers were killed.
These American reprisals, which left at least 45 dead, were strongly denounced by Syria and Iraq, as well as by Iran, sworn enemy of the United States.
Iranian Ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani called the US accusations “misleading, baseless and unacceptable”.
“Iran has never sought for the conflict to spill over into the region,” he said. But “if Iran is threatened, attacked or attacked […] it will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right to respond strongly under international law and the UN Charter.”
Iran supports armed groups accused by Washington of being behind an increase in attacks against its forces in the Middle East, against a backdrop of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.