Emergency Meeting on the Military Escalation in the Middle East
Today (28 February) at 4 pm EST, the Security Council will convene for an emergency briefing under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East” to discuss the US-Israeli attacks on Iran earlier today and the retaliatory strikes by Iran on Israel and US bases in several other countries in the region.
This morning, several Council members requested the Council to convene to discuss these developments. France was the first Council member to request an emergency meeting following the US-Israeli strikes, which was subsequently supported by Colombia. Bahrain separately requested a briefing under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East”, citing the Iranian strikes on several countries in the region. China and Russia, for their part, requested an emergency meeting under the “Threats to international peace and security” agenda item, citing “the unprovoked and reckless act of military aggression by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran”. Iran has also sent a letter to the Security Council asserting its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter and requesting the Council to hold an “emergency meeting…to address the U.S. and Israeli regime’s acts of aggression [and] breach of the peace…and to take the necessary and immediate measures to halt this unlawful use of force and to ensure accountability” (S/2026/106). The UK (the Council’s president for February) eventually scheduled the meeting to be held under “The situation in the Middle East” agenda item. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to brief.
This is the second time that the US and Israel have conducted strikes on Iran in the past year. After Israel launched an attack on Iran on 13 June 2025, Israel and Iran exchanged strikes for 11 days, with the US bombing Iranian nuclear facilities on 21 June 2025. The current operation is much larger in scope and ambition, however.
Today’s US-Israeli strikes came after several weeks of US warnings of another potential attack against Iran. At the same time, US officials were pursuing talks with Iran aimed at achieving a negotiated solution to the country’s nuclear programme. Yesterday (27 February), Oman, which was mediating talks, claimed there was potential for a breakthrough with the possibility that Iran would not stockpile uranium; however, US President Donald Trump presented a more negative view of the negotiations, telling reporters that he was “not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have”, referring to US demands that Iran dismantle its nuclear programme. Iran had said on 24 February that a deal was within reach but only if diplomacy was prioritised.
Shortly after the launch of the operation, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made separate statements describing the large-scale military operation and calling for the downfall of the Iranian government. Trump announced in a video on Truth Social that the operation’s objective was “to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime”. Iran’s nuclear programme, its ballistic missile programme, its navy, and its ability to support proxies would be eradicated, according to Trump, who also asserted that the Iranian government had “rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions”. Towards the end of his remarks, Trump called on the Iranian people to use the military operation as an opportunity to “take over your government”. In a statement similar in tone to Trump’s, Netanyahu accused Iran of engaging in “fruitless and deceitful negotiations with our American friends” and claimed that the joint US-Israeli operation would allow the Iranian people to “cast off the yoke of this murderous regime”.
The situation remains fluid. In addition to hitting military installations across Iran, the US-Israeli operation has also targeted key government and military officials, with reports that Mohammed Pakpour, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Iran’s Defence Minister, Amir Nasirzadeh, have been killed. There have also been reports that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been killed in the strikes, which had not been confirmed at the time of writing. Iranian state media has said that an airstrike hit a school in Minab, a city in southern Iran, killing more than 60 students. In response to the US-Israeli military campaign, Iran has launched missile and drone strikes against Israel, while also targeting other countries in the region that host US military facilities, including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
At this afternoon’s meeting, Guterres is likely to reiterate the messages in his statement on the crisis issued earlier today. In that statement, he condemned the military escalation in the Middle East, maintaining that the use of force by the US and Israel and Iran’s retaliation across the region “undermine international peace and security”. In this regard, he noted that the UN Charter prohibits “the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations”. During his remarks this afternoon, as in his statement this morning, Guterres may call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation, while urging the parties to return to the negotiating table. He may also express concern about the risk of regional conflict and its potentially grave consequences on civilians. A number of Council members are expected to echo these points in their statements.
Several Council members have already expressed their views on the conflict that erupted earlier today and their interventions are likely to reflect these perspectives. Council members such as China and Russia are likely to be highly critical of the US-Israeli operation, condemning it as a violation of the UN Charter that has the potential to generate further instability in the region. They may further urge de-escalation and restraint and call for the parties to return to negotiations. Russia has already condemned the operation, calling it “a deliberate, premeditated, and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state, in direct violation of the fundamental principles and norms of international law”. China has also expressed concern about the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and referred to the need to respect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In contrast, other members are expected to express strong criticism of Iran’s nuclear and conventional weapons programmes, its destabilising activities in the region, and its repressive domestic policies. They are likely to criticise Iran’s retaliatory strikes on countries across the Middle East. For example, in keeping with a statement released jointly with Germany earlier today, France and the UK may condemn Iran’s strikes in the region, call for a negotiated solution, and maintain that the Iranian people must be able to determine their future.
Bahrain, which has been targeted by Iran, is likely to condemn Iran’s strikes on its territory and against other countries in the region. In a statement released earlier today, Manama asserted that the international community should “condemn this criminal aggression and…take an immediate and decisive stance to halt these hostile acts that endanger the lives of civilians”.
Pakistan may be critical of both the military operation against Iran and the country’s strikes on Gulf countries. In a statement released today, it condemned the “unwarranted attacks” against Iran, and the attacks by Iran “against the brotherly countries of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE”. In this afternoon’s meeting, it may reiterate its call in the statement for “all sides to resume diplomacy and find a peaceful and negotiated solution to the crisis”.
