Blinken to UN Security Council: Don’t Be Fooled by Calls for Unconditional Ceasefire in Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Blinken to UN Security Council: Don’t Be Fooled by Calls for Unconditional Ceasefire in Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a Security Council meeting concerning the war in Ukraine at United Nations headquarters on February 24, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)

The UN Security Council should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine and should not fall into the “false equivalency” of calling on both sides to stop fighting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the council on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Friday.

Russia will use any pause in fighting to consolidate control of territory and replenish its forces, Blinken said after China called for a ceasefire as part of a position paper on the war.

"No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and on the UN Charter," Blinken said.



UN Expert Urges Probe of Iran 'Atrocity Crimes' in 1980s

(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
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UN Expert Urges Probe of Iran 'Atrocity Crimes' in 1980s

(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)

A UN expert called Monday for an international investigation into "atrocity crimes", including genocide, committed in Iran against religious minorities and amid a purge of dissidents in the 1980s.

Javaid Rehman, the UN's independent special rapporteur on the rights situation in Iran, said there should be "no impunity for such gross human rights violations, regardless of when they were committed,” Agence France Presse reported.

"The Iranian regime and its leaders should not be allowed to escape the consequences of their crimes against humanity and genocide," he added.

The expert, whose mandate ends on July 31, said in a statement that the "atrocity crimes" of summary, arbitrary and extra-judicial executions in 1981-1982 and in 1988 "amounted to crimes against humanity of murder and extermination, as well as genocide."