<figure id="attachment_3259875" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3259875" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3259875" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/85e80059-antonio-guterres-17012026.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3259875" class="wp-caption-text">UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres will deliver further remarks at a Security Council meeting in New York at 2100 GMT. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned &#8220;escalation&#8221; in the Middle East after US and Israeli strikes on Iran, on which the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Saturday.
&#8220;I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,&#8221; Guterres said in a statement, saying the attacks – including Iran&#8217;s retaliation – undermine international peace and security.
The secretary-general is to deliver further remarks at a Security Council meeting in New York at 4.00 pm (2100 GMT).
France, China, Russia, Bahrain and Colombia each led a push for the extraordinary Saturday meeting, according to a diplomatic source.
The Russian mission to the UN said it made the request over &#8220;the unprovoked act of armed aggression by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran&#8221;.
&#8220;During the Security Council meeting, we will demand that the US and Israel immediately cease their illegal and escalatory actions and embark on a path toward a political and diplomatic settlement,&#8221; it added in a statement.
In a letter to the UN, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called on the Security Council to take &#8220;immediate&#8221; steps to halt what it said was an illegal aggression by the United States and Israel.
Araghchi said the council must &#8220;address the US and Israeli regimes&#8217; acts of aggression&#8221; and &#8220;take the necessary and immediate measures to halt this unlawful use of force.&#8221;
&#8220;The US and the Israeli regime shall bear full and direct responsibility for all ensuing consequences, including any escalation arising from their unlawful actions,&#8221; he added in the letter.
The US and Israel on Saturday carried out a series of strikes citing &#8220;threats&#8221; from Iran, which responded with volleys of missiles aimed at Gulf states that host US bases and at Israel.

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UN chief condemns Mideast ‘escalation’ as Security Council to meet

Antonio Guterres called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation, saying the attacks undermine international peace and security.

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