News- Middle East: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said the bombing of Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites by the United States marks a “perilous turn”, warning that the region cannot endure yet another “cycle of destruction.”

Following the US aggression on three peaceful Iranian nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan, Iran requested a UN Security Council meeting urging the members to address and unequivocally condemn the unlawful aggression.

Russia, China and Pakistan have submitted a resolution demanding an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”

Addressing the UN Security Council on Sunday, Guterres called on the members to act – immediately and decisively – to help halt the fighting and resumption of serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program.

He said there must be an immediate ceasefire and a return to “serious, sustained negotiations.”

Grossi says ‘window for diplomacy’ still open

Meanwhile, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi cautioned against continued fighting and underscored the stakes for the global nuclear order.

“We have a window of opportunity to return to dialogue and diplomacy,” Grossi said.

“If that window closes, violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels, and the global non-proliferation regime as we know it could crumble and fall.”

Without condemning the US aggression on Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites, Grossi stressed that nuclear facilities must never be targets in military operations, saying “armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place and could result in radioactive releases with grave consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the State which has been attacked.”

Iran has castigated Grossi for being complicit in paving the way for Israel and the US to attack it.

The IAEA’s Board of Governors approved a resolution against Iran days before the Israeli regime launched its aggression against the Islamic Republic on June 13.

UK urges all parties to return to negotiations

The United Kingdom also leaned toward the US side, with Ambassador Barbara Woodward telling the Council that “military action alone cannot bring a durable solution.”

Without condemning the US and Israeli aggression on Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites, she urged the two sides “to show restraint”, calling on “all parties to return to the negotiating table and find a diplomatic solution which stops further escalation and brings this crisis to an end.”

The French representative denied Paris’ complicity in the US attacks and said, “France did not participate in the planning or execution of the United States attacks on Iran.”

Without referring to the American and Israeli aggressors, the French official brazenly said, “We call on Iran not to escalate tensions or take retaliatory measures.”

‘Unprovoked and unjustified act’

Meanwhile, Algeria’s UN envoy Amar Bendjama described Israeli aggression as “an unprovoked and unjustified act” and “a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations.”

He warned against Israel’s attempts to justify “an act of aggression against a sovereign member state,” and linked the aggression to broader violations in Gaza.

“Those responsible for the collapse of the health system in Gaza … cannot credibly claim to be upholding international humanitarian law,” he said.

Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, speaking at an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Monday, strongly condemned the US military aggression on Iranian soil, saying Tehran reserves the complete and lawful right to defend itself under international law.

The Israeli regime launched unprovoked aggression on the Islamic Republic last Friday, with American backing, assassinating several top-ranking military commanders, scientists and many other ordinary civilians, including women and children.

After more than a week, the US decided to finally make it official with direct intervention in the war that the Israeli regime has been losing.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, the US launched unlawful strikes against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, in a clear violation of international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday called on the international community to take a clear stand, warning that the United Nations Charter itself is under attack.

“The international community must take a stand, because it is not just Iran that is being threatened, it’s the very foundations of international law that are being challenged,” he said.

Source: Press TV