UNSC to meet Friday afternoon on Iran at United States request
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 5 (APP)::Despite Russia’s opposition, the United States is pushing for the UN Security Council to meet on the situation Friday afternoon (Around 1 a.m. PST Saturday).
The Security Council’s daily programme for Friday, published on its website, shows the 15-nation body would meet in the afternoon to discuss the “situation in the Middle East.”
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told reporters Tuesday she would seek an emergency Council meeting in New York and at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The US envoy warned that the demonstrations in Iran could escalate into full-blown conflict, drawing a comparison with Syria.
But in Moscow, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made it clear that the protests in Iran did not pose an international threat and should not be a topic for debate within the council.
“The United States continues its policy of open and covert interference into the affairs of other states. Under the guise of concern about human rights and democracy, they shamelessly attack the sovereignty of other nations,” he told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
“It is in this light that we see America’s initiative to summon a UN Security Council meeting on a strictly internal issue.”
Ryabkov said that Tehran’s claims that the United States is driving the deadly street demonstrations from abroad were “not unfounded” and added that Washington uses “any means available” to undermine hostile foreign governments.
The top Russian diplomat said that Moscow will “calmly” participate in any discussion but noted that the situation “lay outside of the sphere of competence of the United Nations,” whose mission was being “sacrificed for the sake of personal ambitions of certain individuals, who want to grow their personal political capital at the expense of another country’s internal difficulties.”
On Thursday, the United States formally requested an open Council meeting. Russia responded by calling for a closed-door talks before the the Council meeting on Friday. Diplomats expect Russia to try to block the formal council meeting by requesting a procedural vote to decide whether the situation in Iran should be on the agenda. For a new agenda item to be discussed at the Security Council, at least nine of the 15 council members must support holding the meeting. No vetoes apply. Haley said, “It will be telling if any country tries to deny the Security Council from even having this discussion, just as the Iranian regime tries to deny its own people the ability to have their voices heard.” “The U.S. has been intensively lobbying for support from Council members in its bid to place situation in Iran on the agenda. “Meanwhile, Iran’s UN Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo has sent a letter to the council accusing the United States of meddling after US President Donald Trump pledged to help Iranians “take back” their government. Pro-government rallies were held in Tehran after Friday prayers, the third straight day of marches in support of the government, which has declared the unrest over.