Israel tells UN Security Council "we will not stop" Iran attacks
Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) speaks via video during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, about the conflict between Israel and Iran, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
WASHINGTON - Iran said it would continue to defend itself against Israel during a UN Security Council session on Friday, while Israel's UN ambassador vowed that his country would not stop its attacks until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled.
"We will not stop," Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon said. "Not until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled, not until its war machine is disarmed, not until our people and yours are safe."
Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani urged the Security Council to take action.
"Israel apparently declared that it will continue this strike for as many days as it takes. We are alarmed by credible report that the United States... may be joining this war," he said. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
42 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump disavows spy chief Gabbard's take on Iran's nuclear program
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard departs after a closed door meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Malacanang Palace, Manila, Philippines, June 2, 2025. Ezra Acayan/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong in suggesting there is no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Trump contested intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his spy chief that Tehran was not working on a nuclear weapon when he spoke with reporters at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey. "She's wrong," Trump said. Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead. Trump's comments came as the president has said he would weigh involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict over the next two weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified a week of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets by saying Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead. Gabbard's office has previously pointed to quotes from the spy chief saying that she and Trump were "on the same page" regarding the status of Iran's nuclear program. Iran denies developing nuclear weapons, saying its uranium enrichment program was only for peaceful purposes. A source with access to U.S. intelligence reports told Reuters that the assessment presented by Gabbard had not changed. They said U.S. spy services also judged that it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could hit a target of its choice. Some experts, however, believe it could take Iran a much shorter time to build and deliver an untested crude nuclear device, although there would be no guarantee it would work. Trump has frequently disavowed the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters have charged - without providing proof - are part of a "deep state" cabal of U.S. officials opposed to his presidency. The Republican president repeatedly clashed with U.S. spy agencies during his first term, including over an assessment that Moscow worked to sway the 2016 presidential vote in his favor and his acceptance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials. Gabbard, a fierce Trump loyalist, has been among the president's backers who have aired such allegations. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Europe-Iran talks yield little in Geneva at ‘perilous' moment, ministers ready to meet again
British foreign minister David Lammy (left) and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot briefing the media in Geneva on June 20, after their talks with Iran's Foreign Minister on Tehran's nuclear programme. PHOTO: AFP Europe-Iran talks yield little in Geneva at 'perilous' moment, ministers ready to meet again GENEVA - There were few signs of progress after European foreign ministers met their Iranian counterpart on June 20 in a bid to prevent conflict in the Middle East from escalating, although all signalled readiness to keep talking, despite major sticking points. The foreign ministers of Germany, Britain, France - known as the E3 - plus the EU, urged Iran to engage with the United States over its contentious nuclear programme even as Tehran has repeatedly insisted it will not open discussions with the Trump administration until Israeli strikes on Iran end. The talks aimed to test Tehran's willingness to negotiate a new nuclear deal despite there being no obvious prospect of Israel ceasing its attacks soon, diplomats said. 'The Iranian Foreign Minister has expressed his willingness to continue discussions on the nuclear programme and more broadly on all issues, and we expect Iran to commit to the discussion, including with the United States, to reach a negotiated settlement,' said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran was ready to consider diplomacy once Israel had ceased its attacks and been held accountable for its actions. 'In this regard, I made it crystal clear that Iran's defence capabilities are not negotiable,' he said, following the talks lasting around three hours in Geneva. No date for a follow-up meeting was announced despite Europeans underscoring the small window for diplomacy. US President Donald Trump has said he will decide within two weeks whether to join the Israeli strikes intended to smash Tehran's nuclear capacity. European ministers spoke beforehand with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who signalled Washington was open to direct talks even as it mulls the strikes, diplomatic sources said. Washington did not confirm that, though broadcaster CNN quoted a US official saying Mr Trump supported diplomacy by allies that could bring Iran closer to a deal. Britain's foreign minister David Lammy said the European countries were eager to continue talks with Iran. 'This is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don't see regional escalation of this conflict,' he said. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi leaving after his meeting in Geneva with the foreign ministers of Germany, Britain, France - known as the E3 - plus the EU. PHOTO: AFP Two European diplomats said the E3 did not believe that Israel would accept a ceasefire in the near term and that it would be difficult for Iran and the US to resume negotiations. They said the idea was to begin a parallel negotiating track, initially without the US, on a new deal that would involve tougher inspections, and potentially on Iran's ballistic missile programme, while allowing Tehran some notional enrichment capacity. Enrichment differences The Trump administration is demanding Iran stop uranium enrichment altogether, whereas the E3 have in past talks left it some scope to enrich for civil ends in exchange for extremely strict international inspections. On June 20, French President Emmanuel Macron shifted closer to Mr Trump's position, saying that any new deal with Tehran needed to go towards zero enrichment. A senior Iranian official told Reuters Iran is ready to discuss limitations on its uranium enrichment but said the prospect of zero enrichment would undoubtedly be rejected. In a speech at the United Nations in Geneva before the E3 meeting, Mr Araqchi accused Israel of a 'betrayal of diplomacy', while Israel's envoy in Geneva raised a 'vehement objection' to the minister addressing the UN's Human Rights Council. Geneva was the scene of an initial accord between Iran and world powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for sanctions lifting in 2013 before a comprehensive deal in 2015. Separate talks between Iran and the US collapsed when Israel launched what it called Operation Rising Lion against Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic capabilities on June 13. France's Mr Barrot spoke to Mr Rubio on June 19, during which Mr Rubio said Washington was ready for direct contact with the Iranians, a diplomatic source said. The Europeans wanted to make clear to Iran that the US is ready for direct talks, but that Iran must give a serious signal, two diplomats said, without defining what that could be. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
US judge orders release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
Mr Mahmoud Khalil - a US permanent resident - was arrested by US immigration agents on March 8. PHOTO: REUTERS NEW YORK - A US judge ordered on June 20 that Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil be released from immigration custody, a major victory for rights groups that challenged what they called the Trump administration's unlawful targeting of a pro-Palestinian activist. Mr Khalil, a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war on Gaza, was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan on March 8. President Donald Trump, a Republican, has called the protests anti-Semitic and vowed to deport foreign students who took part, and Mr Khalil became the first target of this policy. After hearing oral arguments from lawyers for Mr Khalil and for the Department of Homeland Security, US District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ordered DHS to release him from custody at a jail for immigrants in rural Louisiana. Judge Farbiarz said the government had made no attempt to rebut evidence provided by Mr Khalil's lawyers that he was not a flight risk nor a danger to public. 'There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner (Mr Khalil),' Judge Farbiarz said as he ruled from the bench, and punishing someone over a civil immigration matter is unconstitutional, he said. Mr Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, says he is being punished for his political speech in violation of the US Constitution's First Amendment. Mr Khalil condemned anti-Semitism and racism in interviews with CNN and other news outlets in 2024. Earlier this month, Judge Farbiarz had ruled that the government was violating Mr Khalil's free speech rights by detaining him under a little-used law granting the US secretary of state power to seek deportation of non-citizens whose presence in the country was deemed adverse to US foreign policy interests. But the judge declined on June 13 to order Mr Khalil's release from a detention centre in Jena, Louisiana, after President Donald Trump's administration said Mr Khalil was being held on a separate charge that he withheld information from his application for lawful permanent residency. Mr Khalil's lawyers deny that allegation and say people are rarely detained on such charges. On June 16, they urged Judge Farbiarz to grant a separate request from their client to be released on bail or be transferred to immigration detention in New Jersey to be closer to his family in New York. Dr Noor Abdalla, Mr Khalil's wife and a US citizen, at home with their baby son. PHOTO: REUTERS At the June 20 hearing, Judge Farbiarz said it was 'highly unusual' for the government to jail an immigrant accused of omissions in his application for US permanent residency. Mr Khalil, 30, became a US permanent resident in 2024, and his wife and newborn son are US citizens. Trump administration lawyers wrote in a June 17 filing that Mr Khalil's request for release should be addressed to the judge overseeing his immigration case, an administrative process over whether he can be deported, rather than to Judge Farbiarz, who is considering whether Mr Khalil's March 8 arrest and subsequent detention were constitutional. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.