Strikes around Iran and Israel's nuclear sites risk unleashing an "unmitigated catastrophe", the United Nations rights chief said Wednesday, warning that the Middle East war had created an "extremely dangerous" situation.
Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, where countries were holding an urgent debate on Tehran's attacks across the Gulf, Volker Turk warned that many of the strikes in the weeks-long war "raise serious concerns under international law".
In particular, Turk cautioned that "recent missile strikes near nuclear sites in both Israel and Iran underscore the immense danger of further escalation".
"States are flirting with unmitigated catastrophe."
His comments came after the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had informed it that "another projectile hit the premises" of the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday, without damaging it.
Over the weekend, an Iranian strike hit the southern Israeli town of Dimona, home to a nuclear facility, in what Tehran said was in response to an earlier attack on its nuclear site at Natanz.
"The situation is extremely dangerous and unpredictable, and has created chaos across the region," Turk said, insisting that "we cannot go back to war as a tool of international relations".
The UN rights chief also warned that "this conflict has an unprecedented power to ensnare countries across borders and around the world".
"The complex dynamics could ignite further national, regional or global crises at any moment, with an appalling impact on civilians and people everywhere."
