US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood (R) and British Ambassdor to the UN Barbara Woodward (L) attend a United Nations Security Council meeting on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at UN headquarters in New York on Dec. 8, 2023. (Credit: Charly Triballeau/AFP)
Iran warned Saturday of the threat of an "uncontrollable explosion" of the situation in the Middle East, after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the top diplomat of the Islamic republic, also appealed for the immediate opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to enable humanitarian aid to be sent into the Gaza Strip.
Fighters from the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
Israel, whose main ally is the United States, vowed to destroy Hamas in response and unleashed an offensive that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than 17,400 people in the Palestinian territory, mostly women and children.
On Friday, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying the resolution "would leave Hamas in place, able to repeat what it did on Oct. 7."
The United States' deputy representative at the UN, Robert Wood, said the resolution was "divorced from reality" and "would have not moved the needle forward on the ground."
Amir-Abdollahian told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a phone call that "as long as America supports the crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel] and the continuation of the war ... there is a possibility of an uncontrollable explosion in the situation of the region," according to a foreign ministry statement.
The Iranian foreign minister praised the UN chief's decision to use Article 99 of the UN Charter as "brave action to maintain international peace and security."
Fighting resumed between Israel and Hamas on Dec. 1 following a one-week truce that Israel says Hamas violated.
"The Israeli regime's claim that Hamas has violated the ceasefire is completely false," Amir-Abdollahian told Guterres, adding that US support for Israel "has made it difficult to achieve a lasting ceasefire".
Iran warned Saturday of the threat of an "uncontrollable explosion" of the situation in the Middle East, after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the top diplomat of the Islamic republic, also appealed for the immediate opening of the Rafah border crossing with...