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 UN Security Council on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands have been reported killed in a crackdown on demonstrations against clerical rule.
On Thursday, however, Trump appeared to adopt a wait-and-see posture, saying he had been told 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,” Waltz told the Security Council, a meeting requested by Washington. “He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter.”
Iran says it will respond to any aggression
Waltz rejected Iranian claims that the protests are a foreign-backed plot designed to pave the way for military action.
“Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before and is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets,” Waltz said. “They are afraid. They are afraid of their own people.”
Iran’s Deputy UN Ambassador Gholamhossein Darzi said Tehran does not seek escalation or confrontation, accusing 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 toward violence.”
“However, any act of aggression, direct or indirect, will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response,” Darzi told the council. “This is not a threat. It is a statement of legal reality.”
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of convening the Security Council in an effort to “justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” as well as threats to resolve “the Iranian problem” through military strikes aimed at overthrowing the government.
“We strongly urge the hot heads in Washington and other capitals to come to their senses,” Nebenzia said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “maximum restraint at this sensitive moment” and called on all parties to avoid actions that could lead to further loss of life or trigger wider regional escalation, senior UN 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 UN Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen said. “For too long, leaders in Tehran have not heeded this call. The time has now come for the government of Iran to finally listen and respond to the will of its people through peaceful means.”