UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges immediate de‑escalation after strikes across the Middle East

Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, urged an immediate end to hostilities and a return to diplomacy after what he described as a rapid expansion of military action across the Middle East.

Speaking at the meeting, Guterres framed his remarks around “the principles, the facts, and the way out,” invoking the UN Charter’s prohibition on the threat or use of force and stressing that international humanitarian law must be respected. He said the recent strikes risked “igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world.”

Guterres explicitly condemned what he said were “massive military strikes by The United States and Israel against Iran” and also condemned subsequent Iranian attacks that he said violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia…