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A wide view of the Security Council meeting on the rapidly esclating crisis in the Middle East. |
The Council cleared its original schedule to address the rapidly evolving crisis, also hearing from the head of the UN-backed international nuclear watchdog, who warned of the grave risks to regional stability and nuclear safety.
Overnight from Thursday into Friday, Israeli military strikes targeted nuclear facilities across Iran, including the Natanz enrichment site. Media reports indicate that Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as several prominent nuclear scientists, were among those killed.
The strikes also caused significant damage, including reportedly dozens of civilian casualties. Airspace in the region has been largely closed and security forces are on high alert.
Additional Israeli strikes were reported late Friday local time as well as ballistic missile launches by Iran which have reportedly struck parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv.
Avoid conflagration at all costs: DiCarlo
Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for political affairs told ambassadors that the repercussions of the attacks were already reverberating.
“I reaffirm the Secretary-General’s condemnation of any military escalation in the Middle East,” she said, urging both Israel and Iran to exercise maximum restraint and “avoid at all costs a descent into deeper and wider regional conflict”.
She also noted that the military escalation came just as “some significant diplomatic developments” were unfolding, including the planned resumption of United States-Iranian talks in Oman at the weekend. Latest reports indicate that Iran will no longer attend.
Ms. DiCarlo urged parties to stay the diplomatic course.
“A peaceful resolution through negotiations remains the best means to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme,” she said.
“We must at all costs avoid a growing conflagration which would have enormous global consequences.”
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