Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has issued an urgent request to the Security Council calling on the international community, including top powers, to put an end to Israel’s ongoing strikes against the Islamic Republic and prevent the United States from joining the conflict.
In the letter, shared with Newsweek, Iranian Permanent Representative to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani argued Wednesday that “the Israeli regime, in full coordination with the United States, launched a deliberate, premeditated, and large-scale act of aggression, effectively waging war against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
He said that “the situation has dangerously escalated due to mounting and undeniable evidence of direct United States involvement in this unlawful campaign of aggressive war against Iran,” citing “explicit statements and provocative actions by senior U.S. officials,” including U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk of a potential assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and threats to conduct strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Calling for an immediate emergency session of the Security Council, whose permanent, veto-wielding members include China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the U.S., he asked member states to condemn “unlawful use of force” against Iran, recognize Israel’s operation “as aggression” and prevent “further aggression, including any involvement by external powers.”
He also requested the Security Council take “binding enforcement measures to compel the aggressor to halt its violations.”
Should the Security Council fail to meet the historic “test,” he warned of “far-reaching and irreversible consequences for international peace and security,” as well as Iran’s commitment to exercise its “inherent right” to “self-defense.”
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Trump Teases Intervention
Israel launched a massive campaign of strikes against Iran late Thursday, early Friday local time, targeting sites and personnel tied to nation’s armed forces and nuclear program.
The campaign, which came just days before Washington and Tehran were set to hold a sixth round of nuclear talks, has been backed by Trump. The U.S. leader has since increasingly warned of he may intervene directly in support of Israel and called Tuesday for the Islamic Republic’s “unconditional surrender.”
He also issued an ominous threat to Khamenei’s life.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
An Israeli official declined Newsweek’s request for comment that same day as to whether Khamenei was considered a viable target. The Israeli campaign has already claimed the lives of at least 585 people, according to the Human Rights Activists monitor, including at least dozens of senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones against Israel in response to the ongoing strikes, killing 24 people, according to Israeli officials. The U.S. has assisted Israel in intercepting the incoming salvos.
As to whether Trump would join the conflict offensively, he told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday: “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Trump also alleged Wednesday that Iranian officials had proposed sending a delegation for talks at the White House while arguing it would be “very late” for talks.
The claim was denied by the Iranian Mission to the U.N. in a statement shared with Newsweek and published to X, formerly Twitter.
“No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House,” the Iranian Mission said. “The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader.
“Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance. Iran shall respond to any threat with a counter-threat, and to any action with reciprocal measures.”
Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
US Mobilizes for Conflict
Since the October 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian Hamas movement against Israel that sparked a regional conflict, the U.S. role has been largely limited to conducting strikes against Iran’s Axis of Resistance allies, such as Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, both of which launched attacks against Israel from afar.
The U.S. also supported Israeli interceptions of Iranian missiles and drones during two prior exchanges of fire between the archfoes last year.
But growing signs that the Trump administration is gearing up to enter the conflict include recent movements of U.S. military aircraft and warships, the evacuation of nonessential personnel from the region and a new task force established by the State Department to help U.S. citizens leave the Middle East.
Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon but has significantly ramped up levels of uranium enrichment since Trump abandoned a previous multilateral nuclear agreement during his first administration in 2018.
Officials from Israel, which is widely believed to possess its own nuclear arsenal, have alleged that Iran has accumulated enough material to produce up to 15 nuclear bombs. Among Iran’s key nuclear sites that have been struck thus far include the Natanz enrichment plant and Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center.
One site that has yet to be targeted, however, is the heavily fortified Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, which is up to 300 feet below a mountain about 20 miles from the city of Qom. Current and former Israeli officials have long said that only the U.S., with its 15-ton “bunker buster” bombs fitted to B-2 stealth bombers, would be able to fully destroy the facility.
The U.S. conducted its largest-ever deployment of B-2 bombers to the remote Indian Ocean base of U.S. Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in March. While at least some of the B-2s reportedly returned to the fleet’s headquarters at Missouri’s Whiteman Air Force Base, recent satellite imagery viewed by Newsweek indicated the presence of B-52 bombers, KC-135 tankers, F-15 fighters and a C-5M heavy transport aircraft at Diego Garcia.
The U.S. has since reportedly sent additional F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets to the region, as well as K-C135R and KC-46A air tankers used for refueling during air missions. Meanwhile, the USS Nimitz carrier group is currently in transit from the South China Sea toward the Middle East, where the USS Carl Vinson carrier group has been operating since spring.
Pentagon officials have thus far maintained that U.S. forces were being added to the region “to sustain our defensive posture and safeguard American personnel.”
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
Major Powers React
The four U.N. Security Council permanent members other than the U.S. have called for deescalation in the raging conflict between Israel and Iran. Top officials from China, France and Russia have explicitly appealed for the U.S. not to strike Iran, while the U.K. has adopted a more cautious approach.
The U.K., which was the sole U.N. Security Council permanent member to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, owns the Diego Garcia base leased by the U.S. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was set to hold an urgent national security meeting Wednesday to discuss the rising tensions.
Meanwhile, U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner responded to parliamentary criticism over London’s role in backing Washington in the Iraq War by saying that “we agree with President Trump that Iran must never have nuclear weapons, but we’ve been consistent in urging to Iran to engage in the diplomatic process and work with the United States, and we continue to support that diplomatic approach.”
During his press briefing with reporters Wednesday, Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered to mediate in the conflict with Iran, an offer the U.S. leader rejected as he argued resolving the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war should be his Russian counterpart’s priority.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax News Agency that “we warn Washington against even speculative, theoretical options of direct military assistance to Israel,” as “such a step would radically destabilize the entire situation.”
Responding to Trump’s threats to Khamenei and calls for Iran’s capitulation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters Wednesday that Beijing was “deeply worried” about the conflict and “has expressed concerns on that.”
“We oppose any move that violates the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter and a country’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” Guo said. “Further escalation in the Middle East serves no one’s interests.”
He said that “the country with special influence on Israel,” a veiled reference to the U.S., “in particular needs to maintain a fair and objective position, take up due responsibility and play a positive and constructive role for deescalation and preventing further spread of the conflict.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, a NATO ally who has clashed with Trump on several occasions, issued a direct appeal Tuesday against operations that could be used to overthrow the Iranian government, citing past mistakes in Iraq and Libya.
“We don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon,” Macron said. “But the biggest error would be to use military strikes to change the regime because it would then be chaos and our responsibility is to return discussions as quickly as possible to be able to set a course again on the nuclear and ballistic question.”
Update 6/18/25, 3:39 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
