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UN Security Council meets on Iran as Russia, China push for a ceasefire

Published

4 months ago

June 23, 2025

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Russia, China, and Pakistan suggested that the 15-member UN Security Council adopt a resolution demanding an immediate and unconditional truce in the Middle East as the council gathered on Sunday to discuss U.S. raids on Iran’s nuclear sites.
“It’s a dangerous turn that the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council on Sunday. “We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear programme.”
Following President Donald Trump’s announcement on Sunday that the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s major nuclear sites, joining Israel in the largest Western military operation against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution, the world awaited Iran’s response.

China and Russia denounced the American strikes.
“Force cannot bring about peace in the Middle East,” stated Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the UN. “Diplomatic means to address the Iranian nuclear issue haven’t been exhausted, and there’s still hope for a peaceful solution.”
However, Dorothy Shea, the acting US ambassador to the UN, warned the council that Washington needed to take bold action and urged the Security Council to urge Iran to stop its nuclear weapons development and its attempt to destroy Israel.

“Iran long obfuscated its nuclear weapons program and stonewalled our good-faith efforts in recent negotiations,” she stated. “The Iranian regime cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, recalled former US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s 2003 argument before the UN Security Council that Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons arsenals made Saddam Hussein an immediate threat to the world.
“Once more, we are being asked to accept the US’s utopian claims and to subject millions of Middle Easterners to misery. This strengthens our belief that our American colleagues have learned nothing from history,” he stated.

COST OF INACTION ‘CATASTROPHIC’

On Sunday, Iran asked to meet with the UN Security Council.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said that the US and Israel were destroying diplomacy, that the nuclear non-proliferation treaty “has been manipulated into a political weapon,” and that all of the U.S. accusations were baseless.
“Instead of guaranteeing parties’ legitimate rights to peaceful nuclear energy, it has been exploited as a pretext for aggression and unlawful action that jeopardize the supreme interests of my country,” Iravani said to the council.

The United States’ action against Iran was hailed by Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, who said: “This is what the last line of defense looks like when every other line has failed.” He charged that Iran was using nuclear talks as a cover to acquire time to enrich uranium and develop missiles.
“Ignorance would have had disastrous consequences. He informed the council that “a nuclear Iran would have been a death sentence just as much for you as it would have been for us.”

When the council could vote on the draft resolution was not immediately known. Council members have been urged by China, Pakistan, and Russia to provide their thoughts by Monday night. For a resolution to pass, it must have at least nine votes and not be vetoed by the US, France, Britain, Russia, or China.
According to Reuters, the draft resolution, which also denounces strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities, is expected to face opposition from the US. Israel and the United States are not mentioned in the text.

According to Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward, “military action alone cannot bring a durable solution to concerns about Iran’s nuclear program,” she told the council. “We urge Iran now to show restraint, and we urge all parties to return to the negotiating table and find a diplomatic solution which stops further escalation and brings this crisis to an end.”
Although there were visible craters at Iran’s enrichment complex, which is buried inside a mountain at Fordow, Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear monitor, stated that “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”

Grossi told the Security Council that the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz had been hit once more, and entrances to tunnels used for storing enriched material appear to have been damaged at Iran’s expansive Isfahan nuclear complex.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Grossi, stated, “Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites.”

Related Topics:Iran Israel conflict news US attack on Iran nuclear sites

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Trump gives Hamas a “final warning” on the captives.

Published

4 weeks ago

September 8, 2025

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On Sunday, US President Donald Trump issued a “last warning” to Hamas, stating that the Palestinian militant organization must agree to a settlement that will free the prisoners in Gaza.

“My demands have been accepted by the Israelis. It’s time for Hamas to come around too. I’ve told Hamas what will happen if they don’t accept. Trump stated on social media, “This is my last warning,” without providing any other details.

Hamas expressed its readiness to “immediately sit at the negotiating table” in a statement issued shortly after, citing “some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement.”

White House envoy Steve Witkoff delivered Hamas a fresh ceasefire and hostage-resolution plan for Gaza last week, according to U.S. news agency Axios.

Although the White House has not disclosed any information on the plan, Trump stated late Sunday that “you’ll be hearing about it pretty soon,” painting a favorable picture of the talks.

“We had some excellent conversations. “There could be positive outcomes,” he informed reporters. “I think we’re going to have a deal on Gaza very soon.”

Trump sent Hamas a similar ultimatum in early March, stating that if it did not immediately release all surviving captives and give over the corpses of the murdered hostages, “it is OVER for you.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli advocacy organization, hailed the US president’s most recent action as a “true breakthrough.”

During the catastrophic October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel, Hamas forces captured 251 prisoners, with 47 reportedly remaining in Gaza.

According to the Israeli military, 25 of them have died. Israel is requesting that their remains be returned.

– Assault on Gaza City –

Trump and Hamas’ remarks coincided with Israel’s army bombing a residential skyscraper in Gaza City on Sunday, the third in as many days, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that the military was “deepening” its attack on the strategic city.

When the Al-Roya tower was struck, witness Mohammed Al-Nazli told AFP that it “felt like an earthquake.”

Israeli bombardment on Sunday killed at least 48 Palestinians, according to Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the Gaza civil defense department.

Under the same pretext that Hamas had utilized them as observation posts, the air force has destroyed two other residential high-rises.

About 100,000 people have already fled Gaza City, according to Netanyahu, who blamed Hamas for attempting to obstruct evacuations and for using civilians as “human shields.”

Concerns that the already terrible humanitarian situation for Palestinians residing in the region may worsen have been heightened by the escalation.

Fearing for the safety of hostages said to be held in Gaza City, Israeli demonstrators flocked to the streets on Saturday to demand that their government revoke the decision to take the city.

According to an AFP count based on Israeli data, 1,219 persons were killed in the October 7, 2023 strike, the majority of them were civilians.

According to the United Nations-reliable health ministry numbers in Hamas-run Gaza, Israel’s retaliatory operation has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians.

AFP is unable to independently confirm the tolls and information supplied by the Israeli military or the civil defense service because to media restrictions in Gaza and access issues in several regions.

World

Modi of India claims that relations with the US are still “very positive.”

Published

1 month ago

September 6, 2025

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Following US President Donald Trump’s reaffirmation of their personal friendship and his downplaying of his previous comments about “losing India” to China, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that Washington and New Delhi still had “very positive” connections.

The trade comes amid tensions after Washington accused New Delhi of supporting Moscow’s murderous attacks on Ukraine by buying Russian oil and levied tariffs of up to 50% on Indian goods.

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Right-wing populists Trump and Modi, however, have been close since the US president’s first term.

Modi wrote on X that India and the US had a “very positive and forward-looking comprehensive and global strategic partnership” and that he “deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties.”

Trump previously declared to reporters that he “will always be friends with Modi of course.”

“The relationship between the United States and India is unique. Trump downplayed his earlier comments about “losing India” to China, saying, “There is nothing to worry about.”

Trump previously declared to reporters that he “will always be friends with Modi of course.”

“The relationship between the United States and India is unique. Trump downplayed his earlier comments about “losing India” to China, saying, “There is nothing to worry about.”

A thaw between the two Asian giants was indicated last week when Modi made his first trip to China in seven years to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.

Trump has come off as annoyed in New Delhi as he tries to claim credit for his alleged Nobel Prize-worthy diplomacy in mediating peace between India and Pakistan after the two nuclear-armed neighbors engaged in their deadliest confrontation in decades in May.

Since then, India, which vehemently opposes any outside intervention on Kashmir, has ignored Trump.

World

Toyota cuts its profit forecast because of US tariffs.

Published

2 months ago

August 7, 2025

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The impact of US tariffs caused Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota to lower its year net profit prediction on Thursday to 2.66 trillion yen ($18.06 billion).

“Due to the impact of US tariffs and other factors, actual results showed decreased operating income, and the forecast has been revised downward,” the business stated in a statement. In Tokyo afternoon trading, its stock dropped 0.6 percent.

Japan and its vital auto industry suffered a serious setback in April when the Trump administration levied a 25 percent tax on Japanese automobile imports into the US.

In July, Tokyo and Washington announced a trade agreement that would reduce that tax to 15 percent and offer some relief to the industry, although it is unclear when that agreement will go into effect.

Additionally, it is unclear if the vehicle tax and other “reciprocal” levies will be capped at 15 percent or if they will be added to the ones that were already in place prior to Trump’s trade war.

Due to an existing 2.5 percent tax on the auto industry, the current duty is 27.5 percent.

Revenues in Toyota’s first quarter from April to June were up 3.5 percent, but net income decreased by 36 percent.