Blinken Sends Starkest Warning Yet to Iran Against Getting Involved in War

The Security Council meeting on Tuesday (EPA)
The Security Council meeting on Tuesday (EPA)
TT
20

Blinken Sends Starkest Warning Yet to Iran Against Getting Involved in War

The Security Council meeting on Tuesday (EPA)
The Security Council meeting on Tuesday (EPA)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued the starkest warning yet to the regime in Tehran as the Biden administration tries to keep Tehran from joining the war between Israel and Hamas, saying the US would respond “decisively” if Iran or its proxies attack Americans.

“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” Blinken told a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday. “We do not want this war to widen. But if Iran or its proxies attack US personnel anywhere, make no mistake: We will defend our people, we will defend our security, swiftly and decisively.”

The Security Council met in New York on Tuesday for a scheduled quarterly open debate on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, now given greater urgency by the Hamas attacks of October 7and the deepening humanitarian crisis as the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues.

“The situation in the Middle East is growing more dire by the hour,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Council. He added: “the war in Gaza is raging and risks spiraling throughout the region.”

Guterres said that he has condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented October 7 “acts of terror” by Hamas in Israel, but stressed that “nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.”

He also said that protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields.

The UN chief called on making the delivery of aid easier and safer, and facilitating the release of hostages to ease epic suffering. “I reiterate my appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.

“Even in this moment of grave and immediate danger, we cannot lose sight of the only realistic foundation for a true peace and stability: a two-State solution,” Guterres affirmed.

His comments were followed by those of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, who said it is critical that the international community employ all its collective efforts to end the bloodletting and prevent the further expansion of hostilities, including in the region. “The stakes are astronomically high, and I appeal for all relevant actors to act responsibly,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of Martin Griffiths, Lynn Hastings, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, urged all countries with influence to exert it and ensure respect for international humanitarian law.

She said civilians must have the essentials to survive. As such, the passage of rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief must be facilitated, and water and electricity connections resumed, Hastings added.

For his part, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki stated that the Security Council and the international community has a duty and an obligation to save lives.

“Continued failure at this [Security] Council is inexcusable,” he stressed.

“By the time representatives are done delivering their speeches today, 150 Palestinians will have been killed, including 60 children,” he said, adding that, in the last two weeks, over 5,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 2,300 children and 1,300 women. “Almost all those killed by Israel are civilians,” Maliki underscored.

He said more injustice and more killing will not make Israel safer, adding that no amount of weapons and no alliance will bring to it security, but only peace with Palestine and its people will.

Maliki’s speech was directly followed by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who described the Hamas attack as the most brutal and vicious terror attack in modern history.

“Hamas are the new Nazis,” he said, and the civilized world must stand united behind Israel to defeat them.

Following a statement by Brazil’s Foreign Minister and President of the Council for October Mauro Vieira who said that achieving peace requires strict adherence to international law as well as working towards the two-State solution, the US Secretary of State again recognized the right of states to defend themselves against terrorism.

Also, Blinken said humanitarian pauses must be considered. “We continue to coordinate closely with Egypt, Israel, and partners across the region as well as with the United Nations to build mechanisms that will enable sustained humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza without benefiting Hamas or any other terrorist group,” he said.

Blinken then called on all Council members to use their leverage to secure the release of the 200 hostages still in the grip of Hamas.

The US Secretary of State told the Security Council that he will work with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, to prevent the conflict in the Middle East from spreading when they meet later this week.

However, he warned that it would act swiftly and decisively if Tehran or its proxies attack US personnel anywhere.

“To all of the members of this council: If you, like the United States, want to prevent this conflict from spreading, tell Iran, tell its proxies – in public, in private, through every means – do not open another front against Israel in this conflict; do not attack Israel’s partners,” he added.

Finally, the US top diplomat said, “We all agree that we must redouble our collective efforts to build an enduring political solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Blinken’s French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, said, “It is our duty to pave the way to peace."

She added that the only viable solution is the two-State solution. “We need to do all we can. This Council must act and it must act now.”

Colonna affirmed her country’s solidarity with Israel and underscored its right to defend itself and protect its people, while noting that Israel must do so while respecting international law, in particular international humanitarian law.

Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly will meet on Thursday to discuss the war in Gaza, its president announced Monday in a letter to member states.

Jordan on behalf of the Arab grouping, Russia, Syria, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, formally requested General Assembly President Dennis Francis to schedule the meeting.



Netanyahu Says he Believes Trump Can Help Seal Ceasefire Deal

FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
TT
20

Netanyahu Says he Believes Trump Can Help Seal Ceasefire Deal

FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with US President Donald Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday.

Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted, Netanyahu said on Sunday before boarding his flight to Washington.

"I believe the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance these results," he said, adding that he was determined to ensure the return of hostages held in Gaza and to remove the threat of Hamas to Israel.

It will be Netanyahu's third visit to the White House since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.

Public pressure is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire and end the war in Gaza, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. Others, including Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, have expressed support.

Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a "positive spirit", a few days after Trump said Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day truce.

But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.

Netanyahu's office said in a statement that changes sought by Hamas to the ceasefire proposal were "not acceptable to Israel". However, his office said the delegation would still fly to Qatar to "continue efforts to secure the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to".

Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the militant group has so far refused to discuss.

Netanyahu said he believed he and Trump would also build on the outcome of the 12-day air war with Iran last month and seek to further ensure that Tehran never has a nuclear weapon. He said recent Middle East developments had created an opportunity to widen the circle of peace.

On Saturday evening, crowds gathered at a public square in Tel Aviv near the defense ministry headquarters to call for a ceasefire deal and the return of around 50 hostages still held in Gaza. The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted and carried posters with photos of the hostages.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Gaza's health ministry says Israel's retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced the population, mostly within Gaza, and left the territory in ruins.

Around 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to be still alive. A majority of the original hostages have been freed through diplomatic negotiations, though the Israeli military has also recovered some.