Russia torches US at chaotic UN emergency session as bored diplomats scroll on phones

Irish Daily Star

5 hours ago

The
Russian
representative to the United Nations
unleashed a scathing attack
on the U.S. and
Israel
as he accused America of having "opened a Pandora's box" that could bring "
new catastrophe and suffering
."
But the representatives from the U.S. and Israel seemed utterly unenthused as Vasily Nebenzya delivered the scathing remarks during Sunday's emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.
The two were seen scrolling through their phones as the Russian delegation spoke, with the U.S. delegation appearing to text someone as the Israeli representative appeared to be reading something, quickly scrolling through his phone.
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Nebenzya accused the U.S. of launching a dangeorus "gamble" with the "well-being of humanity"
(Image: Getty Images)
Nebenzya accused the U.S. of launching a "gamble with the safety and well-being of humanity as a whole" through its strikes on Iran.
"Russia condemns, in the most decisive terms, the irresponsible, dangerous, and provocative actions committed by the USA against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a sovereign member state of the United Nations," he began his lengthy remarks.
"Washington yet again demonstrated its complete contempt for the position of the international community," he continued. "Washington asserted that, to further the interests of its Israeli ally, it's prepared not only to turn a blind eye to the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children and older persons but also to gamble with the safety and well-being of humanity as a whole."
The Israeli delegation was seen scrolling on his phone as the Russian delegation spoke
(Image: United Nations)
"Through its actions, the U.S. has opened a Pandora's box — no one knows what new catastrophe and suffering it will bring," he added.
Nebenzya called the U.S. and its allies "hypocrites" for failing to condemn Israel for provoking the conflict instead of curbing its efforts in the interest of peace.
"Today, we once again will be hearing from the U.S. representative. We'll be hearing cynical statements about readiness to return to the negotiating table, as if there were no strikes using heavy payload bombs on Iran," Nebenzya said.
"Clearly, this is being done to hypocritically, subsequently, portray Tehran as the party that spoiled the negotiations process, as the party that supposedly undermined stability in the Middle East," he continued.
The U.S. delegation (right) was also seen scrolling on her phone
(Image: Getty Images)
The effect of that, however, would be that the U.S. will begin to appear as the boy who cried wolf, and no one in the international community will believe the country anymore as it argues that the strikes were necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
"We believe that none of our sensible colleagues in the international community will believe our U.S. colleagues anymore, much like they won't believe their attempts to convince the Security Council that Iran was trying to acquire nuclear weapons," Nebenzya said.
He likened the situation unfolding today to the one that played out in 2003, when the U.S. attempted to convince the world that Iraq and other countries in the Middle East were harboring weapons of mass destruction following the 9/11 terrorist attacks a couple of years prior.
There were ultimately no WMDs found, and the U.S. was forced to dial down its war efforts with its tail between its legs, finally pulling out of Afghanistan a few years ago with disastrous results.
The wars in the Middle East are seen as the policy baby of former President George W. Bush, and many experts argue that they negatively tainted his political reputation and ultimately led to the Democrats taking power in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president at the end of Bush's second term.
"Today's situation is no different in substance to the one we saw in 2003 — again, we're being asked to believe the U.S.'s fairytales, to once again inflict suffering on millions of people in the Middle East," Nebenzya said on Sunday.
"This cements our conviction that history has taught our U.S. colleagues nothing," he continued, then called out the supposed hypocrisy of the U.S.'s allies in the room. "We regret that, today, some of you in this room didn't and cannot muster up the courage to call a spade a spade and to condemn Washington's actions."
He specifically called out the delegation from the U.K., who said in her remarks that Iran is partially to blame for the airstrikes and escalating conflict in the Middle East because of its nuclear enrichment program, which it has refused to shut down.
"We've seen a lot of hypocrisy in this room, but this takes the biscuit," he said, insisting again that Iran does not have the nuclear program the West would have the world believe it does.
Iranian member of parliament Qasem Ravanbakhsh, who represents the Qom province, in which the country's Fordow nuclear enrichment plant is located, seemed to admit in a statement early Sunday morning that the nuclear program does, in fact, exist, and that the U.S. strikes — which he said did not destroy the Fordow facility, as the U.S. claimed they had — only strengthened Iran's resolve to accelerate the program and retaliate against the U.S.
In a statement to the semi-official Iranian news agency
Tasnim
, Ravanbakhsh said, according to a translation from Persian, "The damage to the Fordow facilities is not as great as the American media and the criminal Trump are saying, and the underground facilities have not been damaged."
He added that the world "should be confident" that the "nuclear knowledge" possessed by Iran "cannot be destroyed by these crimes."
Ravanbakhsh added that, by attacking Iran, the U.S. had opened its forces to "legitimized military operations."
"With this action, Trump left himself and the terrorist forces of America helpless. With this stupid action, Trump legitimized military operations against his forces in the region," the MP said.
He then chillingly stated that Trump should start ordering coffins for members of those forces.
"Trump should order mass production from coffin manufacturing companies as soon as possible to transport the bodies of American soldiers stationed in the region," he concluded.
Whatever happens ultimately "falls squarely on U.S. leadership," Nebenzya said, especially because Trump bragged about the attack on social media and in an address after it took place.
"The U.S. leadership," he said, "not only publicly acknowledged its responsibility for these actions but actually flaunted it, demonstrating wholesale disregard for the norms of international law, the U.N. charter, as well as Security Council resolutions."
"Just two days ago, here in this very chamber, we heard from many delegations, including the closest allies of the U.S. They called for a de-escalation and for the settlement of differences around the negotiating table, yet our U.S. colleagues yet again ignored this position, the position of the entire international community, following Israel's lead, instead of checking Israel, instead of forcing it to halt the spiral of escalation," he said.