US Ambassador Mike Waltz told off an Iranian diplomat in an explosive exchange during a heated United Nations session Saturday, after the US and Israel unleashed Operation Epic Fury on Iran.
The pair of diplomats traded fiery blows toward the end of the emergency United Nations Security Council meeting after Tehran accused the US of breaking international law and risking a wider regional war following Saturday morning’s joint military campaign.
“I advise to the representative of the United States to be polite,” Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, brazenly charged.
“It will be better for yourself and the country you represent.”
Waltz shot back: “This representative sits here, in this body, representing a regime that has killed tens of thousands of its own people, and imprisoned many more, simply for wanting freedom from your entire tyranny.”
Earlier in the meeting, Waltz insisted the US military action was lawful, stressing Washington was acting to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and protect global security – even as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the strikes as “a grave threat to international peace and security.”
Guterres claimed the US and Israel violated international law – and the UN Charter – by carrying out the attack and called for an immediate ceasefire.
“We are witnessing a grave threat to international peace and security,” Guterres said.
“Let me be clear, there is no viable alternative to the peaceful settlement of international disputes,” he continued, calling for an immediate return to negotiations to “pull the region, and our world, back from the brink.”
Guterres also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks for breaking the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran hit those nations as it fired missiles and drones at US bases and facilities across the Middle East and launched counterattacks on Israel.
The UN chief cautioned the strikes could trigger uncontrollable chaos in the world’s “most volatile region.”
President Trump said Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the joint airstrikes.
The Israel Defense Forces also confirmed 40 top Iranian officials were killed in the airstrikes — including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
With Post wires.
