US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, during a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, accused Iran of pursuing a policy of aggressive, destabilizing and unlawful behavior, which violated several UN Security Council resolutions. Ambassador Haley further pointed to the incompetence of the international body, which she declared “turns a blind eye” to the outrageous conduct of the Islamic Republic, allowing Tehran to “play the council.” Ambassador Haley further warned that Iran’s conduct continues to indicate that it will soon become “another North Korea,” stressing that “it cannot consistently violate international law and still be considered “a fit and trusted members of the international community.” She said, “When a rogue regime starts down the path of ballistic missiles, it tells us that we will soon have another North Korea on our hands. If it is wrong for North Korea to do this, why doesn’t that same mentality apply to Iran. With our decision to take a comprehensive approach to confronting the Iranian regime, the United States will not turn a blind eye to these violations. We have made it clear the regime cannot have it both ways. It cannot consistently violate international law and still be considered a fit and trusted member of the international community,” Haley asserted.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia came to the aid of Moscow’s regional ally, accusing his American counterpart of changing the subject of the council’s intended discussion topics, ‘including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’, to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which is the nuclear agreement with Iran. He said, “Mr. President, the agenda for the meeting today is the situation in the Middle East including the Palestinian question. Well at least this is what the paper I have in front of me states. At the same time the statements made by some of the delegations today so far make me question that. Perhaps they did confuse the agenda item they were speaking on and they thought what we were discussing today is the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of 5+1. We are ready to address this issue and I think we and not just us, we have questions to other delegations about how they implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” the Russian ambassador stressed, voicing his dissatisfaction of the council’s shift of focus to Iran’s ongoing violations.
While the council provided a platform for international and regional powers to voice their position on the allegations against Iran, no council members have proposed taking any action against the Islamic Republic as diplomats explained to TV7 that Russia and China, which are veto-power-members of the powerful council, were unlikely to agree to any additional measures against the regime in Tehran.