UN’s Guterres tells US, Israel ‘it is high time to end war’, urges Iran to ‘stop attacking neighbours’

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on the US and Isreal to end the war on Iran while urging Tehran to stop “attacking your neighbours”. “Let me start by two clear messages. First, to the United States and to Israel: It’s high time to end this war that is risking to get completely out of control, causing immense suffering on civilians and with propagation around the global economy, that is really dramatic with potential tragic consequences, especially for the least developed countries,” Guterres told reporters in Brussels after he met with European Union leaders.

Then, turning his attention to Iran, he said: “Stop attacking your neighbours; they were never parties to the conflict.” Guterres’s remarks come as the US-Israel war on Iran rages on. It began was Washington and Tel Aviv launching strikes on Iran on February 28, which also resulted in the assassination of supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The war has expanded since, with Iran targeting US assets and bases in Gulf countries. On March 11, the UN Security Council adopted a Bahrain-led resolution condemning Iran’s in Gulf countries while, at the same session, the US vetoed a resolution presented by Russia, calling for de-escalation in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the conflict has also resulted in a global oil crisis and increased inflation, with the disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on energy infrastructure. Guterres recalled in his remarks that the UNSC had condemned the attacks on Iran’s neighbours and “has ordered them to stop, as it has ordered to open the Strait of Hormuz”. The prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, he warned, “causes enormous pain in so many people around the world who have nothing to do with this conflict”. “It’s time for the force of the law to prevail over the law of the force. It’s time for diplomacy to prevail over war,” he added.