United States, Iran, Lebanon & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Good afternoon, everyone. In a short while, I will be joined by Leila Bakkar, who is the Regional Director for Arab States at the United Nations Population Fund. She will brief from Lebanon to discuss the situation on the ground, particularly the urgent needs of women and girls in the country. And tomorrow, our guest will be Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. He will be here to brief on the launch of the 2026 Financing for Sustainable Development Report. The report assesses progress on financing for the sustainable development goals and sets out concrete recommendations for consideration by member states. In a statement we issued late last night, the Secretary General welcomed the announcement of a two-week ceasefire by the United States and Iran. He calls on all the parties to the current conflict in the Middle East to comply with their obligations under international law. and to abide by the terms of the ceasefire in order to pave the way toward a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region. The Secretary-General underscores that an end to hostilities is urgently needed to protect civilian lives and alleviate human suffering. He expresses sincere appreciation for the efforts of Pakistan and other countries involved in facilitating the ceasefire. And today, we can confirm that the Secretary-General's personal envoy for the Middle East conflict and its consequences, Jean Arnault, has arrived in Iran. Acting on the Secretary-General's instructions, he is visiting countries across the region to support all efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive and durable resolution to the conflict. During his visit, Mr. Arnault will engage with Iranian interlocutors to hear their perspective on the way forward and will reiterate the Secretary-General's commitment to making every effort to support a peaceful settlement. The personal envoy trusts that in line with the charter of the United Nations and international humanitarian law, all leaders will choose the path of peaceful resolution and the protection of civilians over a continued conflict. And the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that it hopes the ceasefire will bring some much-needed respite to people, including frontline responders across the region following six weeks of intense hostilities. The hostilities have claimed many lives and caused devastating damage to civilian infrastructure, including electricity, water, energy, and transportation facilities. In Iran, the UN and our partners, in coordination with the authorities, continue to scale up our response to help refugees and others in the areas of health, water and sanitation, food and shelter. Priority needs include restoring basic services, protecting vulnerable groups, rehabilitating shelters and schools, and providing critical supplies. The United Nations strongly condemns the strikes by Israel across Lebanon that resulted in significant civilian casualties. The UN strongly condemns the loss of civilian lives. We continue to call on all sides to avail themselves of diplomatic channels, cease hostilities, and recommit to the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701. The ceasefire between the US and Iran offers an opportunity to prevent further loss of lives between Lebanon and Israel. We are all concerned to abide by the ceasefire. Now is the time to pursue talks to resolve outstanding differences and work towards a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict. There is no military solution to the conflict. Meanwhile, UN peacekeepers continue to be impacted by hostilities. Yesterday, the impact from an exchange of rocket and artillery fire near At-Tiri in Sector West resulted in injuries to six peacekeepers, including one shrapnel wound and five cases of acoustic trauma, as well as damage to UN vehicles. We again urge all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times. Yesterday, the Israeli Defense Forces detained a UNIFIL peacekeeper after blocking a logistics convoy. Following direct and immediate contacts by UNIFIL's Head of Mission and Force Commander and our Liaison Branch, the peacekeeper was released in less than an hour. Such detention of a United Nations peacekeeper is in violation of international law. We stress again that any intimidation or interference in the Mission's Security Council-mandated tasks must stop immediately. And on the humanitarian situation, you heard quite extensively from Imran Reza just an hour ago. I can also tell you that our colleagues at the UN Refugee Agency and our partners, in coordination with the government, are supporting people fleeing areas under attack with access to shelter and other essential items. Displacement continues to drive humanitarian needs higher. Renewed displacement orders have been issued for the entire area south of the Zarani River, as well as southern suburbs of Beirut. We are concerned by conditions in collective shelters. Overcrowding and limited sanitation facilities have resulted in confirmed cases of scabies and lice, raising health and safety risks, particularly for children and the elderly. Health authorities have deployed medical teams and our humanitarian partners are providing clean water as well as medical and shelter supplies to help contain outbreaks and preserve people's dignity. Life-saving aid is under threat, with less than one-third of the Lebanon Flash Appeal, which calls for $308 million, funded. Turning now to the occupied Palestinian territory, our colleagues working on health report that a five-day vaccination campaign is underway. In a social media post yesterday, the World Health Organization said that these efforts are led by the Ministry of Health, supported by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, donors and partners to vaccinate children under the age of three who have missed routine vaccination in the past 30 months. Nearly 150 teams are delivering the vaccines, including in hard to reach areas. UNICEF says that this winter, community health educators have taught more than 207,000 caregivers how to manage the early signs of hypothermia among infants and help save a child. This morning, the Security Council held a briefing on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Tom Fletcher, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that last year, at least 326 humanitarians were recorded as killed across 21 countries, bringing the total number of humanitarians killed in three years to over 1,010. This, he said, is the collapse of protection. Humanitarians know they face risks, Mr. Fletcher said, but these deaths are because parties to the conflict are reckless with our lives. Over 110 member states have chosen to act together through the political declaration on the protection of humanitarians. Yet Mr. Fletcher said across multiple crises, humanitarians are not just being killed. Their access is being restricted, penalized, and delegitimized. These trends, alongside the collapse in funding for humanitarians' life-saving work, are a symptom of a lawless, bellicose, selfish, and violent world. Killing humanitarians is part of the broader attack on the UN charter and on international humanitarian law. The Emergency Relief Coordinator challenged Council members to uphold the commitments of Resolution 2730, protection, integrity, accountability. For his part, Gilles Marchot, the head of our Safety and Security Department, said that attacks on humanitarians no longer come only from non-state armed groups. They come from member states and from de facto authorities, some of whom claim and seek international legitimacy. Regrettably, all these perpetrators are rarely held accountable. Over the last seven years, the humanitarian community's risk tolerance has risen to unprecedented levels. Mr. Michaud told the Security Council, our colleagues in the field are tolerating risks that no one here would ever accept. Turning to Ukraine, our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that in the past 24 hours, attacks have killed and injured several people in the country. Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, Sumy, and Zaporizhia were among the impacted regions. In Kherson, more than 40 residential buildings, as well as a hospital and a school, were damaged or destroyed. The school, which had been used as a humanitarian hub, was heavily damaged in a bomb strike, with people having been evacuated shortly before the impact. Meanwhile, nearly 450 people were evacuated from the Donetsk region over the past day. Our partners continue to support newly displaced people, including at a transit center which opened on April 2nd in the city of Shrotska in the Sumy region. Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that mobile clinics supported by the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund continue to deliver essential healthcare in frontline areas. In the past week alone, more than 1,400 people in the regions of Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Sumy received medical consultations and assistance. In South Sudan, our colleagues with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan supported the deployment of a mobile court in Mundri, Western Equatoria, where 30 criminal and civil cases were heard between the 18th and 31st of March. The court resulted in 14 convictions and 16 acquittals, including rulings on murder cases and several instances of sexual and gender-based violence, with six convictions for crimes including rape. For many survivors, this marked their first access to formal justice. UNMIS provided technical, logistical, and protection support throughout the proceedings, including psychosocial and legal assistance for survivors. This initiative is part of a broader effort to improve access to justice in South Sudan, reduce prolonged pretrial detention, and help decongest overcrowded prisons. And turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I wanted to flag that James Swan, the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN mission And head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, has arrived in the country earlier today. In a statement upon arrival, he said his priority is to ensure that MONUSCO delivers on the mandate entrusted to it by the Security Council, with a clear focus on the protection of civilians, support to de-escalation, and conditions conducive to lasting peace. He added that his previous experience in the DRC has given him deep respect for the country, its people, and the importance of working in close partnership with national authorities and communities. In the Central African Republic, our peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, reports the operational launch of the National Mine Action Authority. This marks a key step towards national ownership to address the threat posed by explosive devices. Supported by the UN Mine Action Service, the new authority builds on years of capacity building, including training national armed forces in explosive ordnance disposal and reaching over 100,000 civilians with risk awareness. These efforts are already yielding results. Civilian casualties linked to explosive devices have dropped significantly from 82 in 2023 to 27 in 2025, with just two cases reported so far this year. This trend reflects the results of joint efforts by the peacekeeping mission, national authorities, and partners, particularly in protecting civilians, supporting stabilization, and enabling development. And the Secretary-General's Peacebuilding Fund has approved $2.4 million for a new program in Mali to help prevent and reduce violence linked to natural resources and climate change. This peacebuilding initiative, to be implemented by the UN Office for Project Services, will help address tensions related to access and use of natural resources in the San and Kwetiala region, hard hit by climate change, land disputes, and weak local governance. It will support community dialogue, expand local participation in decision-making, and bring more women and young people into processes that shape how natural resources are managed at both the community and institutional level. That's it from me. Any questions before we turn to our guest? Yes, Gabriel.

Thank you, Farhan. Does the Secretary General worry that Israel's escalatory actions in Beirut overnight and in the rest of Lebanon could threaten the ceasefire with Iran?

Well, as I said earlier, the ceasefire between the US and Iran offers an opportunity to prevent further loss of lives between Lebanon and Israel. And we urge all concerned to abide by the ceasefire. We are worried that any violence in part of the region may play the effect of spoiling the agreements that have been achieved for the rest of the region. So we want to make sure that all fighting everywhere is abated.

And Iran's 10-point peace plan that President Trump has said is a framework moving forward that he agrees with includes a provision that Iran would establish rules for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Does the Secretary General agree that moving forward, Iran or any other parties having some sort of control over the Strait of Hormuz is acceptable?

Well, first of all, we're going to leave the parties who have agreed to the ceasefire to work out what the terms of the ceasefire are and how it's to be implemented. Obviously, our priority is to making sure that the ceasefire lasts, that the fighting halts, and that there's freedom of movement of marine vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, Sherwin, and then Stefano.

Faran, thank you. The UN Commission of Inquiry on the OPT has put out a statement today saying that the warning Iran has eclipsed a surge in human rights violations against Palestinians. It calls says that all parties who have breached international law and targeted civilians in the OPT and Israel must be held accountable. The commission is appalled by the sharp deterioration in the human rights of Palestinians in the OPT since the start of the war on the 28th of February, and that the overall situation in Gaza remained dire. Is there any reaction to this report and the call from the Commission for accountability here?

We, of course, agree with the idea that there is a need for accountability. We, as you know, have continued to share the information that we have at our disposal about any human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, and we hope and expect that all parties will follow up on those.

Just very briefly, your assessment since the ceasefire in Gaza, I mean, what has the situation been like for you? The Commission talks about reduced border crossings, suspended humanitarian movements in certain areas, suspension of medical evacuations, preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes. Can you confirm that?

We've, as you know, have been providing daily reports of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, and we have pointed out different obstructions. different problems in Gaza, the attacks by settlers in the West Bank, and so that is part of the public record. And we want to make sure that all of those, any violations of the basic rights of the Palestinian people are halted. Stefano, and then Benny.

Thank you, Faran. Now this is about what we were talking yesterday on the Geneva Convention, the respect of international law when you threaten civil population. So yesterday, Pope Leo, speaking in English, that is unusual, has explicitly and directly condemned President Trump's threat against the Iranian population as truly unacceptable. Does the Secretary-General agree with that direct criticism?

Mr. Well, obviously, we leave it to the Pope to speak on his own behalf. From our standpoint, we made it very clear that the Secretary-General was alarmed by the remarks that the U.S. would attack power plants, bridges, and other infrastructure in Iran. As we've been saying for days now, it's very clear that civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure, may not be attacked under international law. And as we've pointed out, even if a specific civilian infrastructure were to qualify as a military objective, international humanitarian law would still prohibit attacks against it if those attacks were expected to cause excessive incidental civilian harm.

Just a quick follow-up. Here is not if actually the attack happens. We're talking about the Geneva Convention says that just threatening to attack the civilians in general, that is already you know, it doesn't respect international law. So the Pope understood that because he said those words are truly unacceptable. So not just the, you know, so my question is, does the Secretary General agree with that or not?

We stand against any attacks and we stand against any rhetoric, any threats of such attacks. Yes, Benny.

So, in the press release that you sent, you say Arnaud met with Iranian interlocutors.

Can you-- He will meet with them. He's currently traveling right now.

Oh, can you specify which interlocutor he's planning to meet with, and how will he know that they represent the decision makers?

Well, first of all, he intends to meet with officials in the government of Iran. Those meetings have not happened. Right now, he's in the course of transit towards Tehran, so we'll report more about his meetings once they happen.

When you say officials in the government of Iran, as you know, some officials, well, are no longer there. What type of officials are we talking about? Are we talking about Galibov, the Speaker of Parliament? Who are we talking about?

Mr. Like I said, we'll let you know who are the people he meets with once those meetings have happened. Namo and then Celia.

Thank you, Farhan. I have two questions on Iran, a follow-up to my colleague's question. The fee that Iran is reportedly demanding on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz seems to be unprecedented. And wouldn't that what does the Secretary-General stand on that, like a country collecting fees on ships just because they're going through a water that is right there? Wouldn't that set a bad precedent for other countries that.

Well, as you know, the talks concerning strengthening the ceasefire is still happening. We hope that the ceasefire will be stabilized and will last beyond two weeks. So that is our current priority. Obviously, regarding the Strait of Hormuz, we have repeatedly said, and this is the Secretary General's point of principle, is that there needs to be freedom of movement for all marine vessels.

And my second question, sorry. The Iranian Government has reportedly called on Iraq, on the Kurdistan Regional Government, to expel Iranian Kurdish dissidents, political dissidents who are residing in Iraqi Kurdistan. Where does the Secretary-General stand on such a request? Should it be accepted? Mr.

Without getting into bilateral relations between the two countries, our point of principle is that people who people should not be made to suffer for their political views or their political activism. Celia. Yeah, oh, so sorry, Sylviane.

Okay. Following the, regarding the targeting of an Italian UNIFIL convoy in Lebanon, Can you clarify what measures the UN is taking to ensure the safety of UNIFIL personnel and the security of the Blue Line, especially in the event of intensified hostility or potential UNIFIL withdrawal?

Well, certainly, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon is in touch through its liaison mechanisms with the relevant Israeli and Lebanese parties to make sure that no one attacks or harasses UNIFIL peacekeepers. And of course, we will continue to urge all actors to uphold their obligations under international law to ensure the safety and security of all UN personnel.

I have another question.

Yes.

Is Mr. Arnault will be have any plan to visit Lebanon.

We'll let you know about his various travels as he makes them. Right now, he is on his way to Tehran, and from there he will travel to other countries in the region, and we'll let you know about the other stops as they proceed. Behsan.

Ms. I just wanted to ask about also Mr. Arnault's trip. Will he be involved in any way in the talks that are taking place in Pakistan later this week? I mean, after he has meetings in Tehran or however that, how long that would take.

Well, right now, like I said, he's in Iran. From there, he'll go on to other stops. I do believe that Pakistan will be one of his stops in the coming days, but we'll provide more details once we are able to share the dates of his travels. Yes, in the back. And then, Mr. Carter.

Thank you, Farhan. Also regarding the foundational 10-point plan, Iran has stated that all provisions of the agreement should be formalized through a "binding Security Council resolution." Does the Secretary-General support bringing these provisions before the Council, and would he consider invoking Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring it before the Council?

Well, first, we'll leave it to the members of the Security Council to decide whether or not and how to take up this issue. Obviously, from our standpoint, we want to make sure that all bodies, including those in the United Nations, are supportive of a ceasefire. Yes.

Thank you, Farhan. Apropos of Iran, is the UN, what is the status of the UN inquiry into the numbers of Iranian protesters who had been killed in early January?

Well, we haven't been able to. Obviously, because of the work of the tensions on the ground, we haven't been able to have any firsthand verification of these numbers. We'll try through our human rights bodies to look into this further once conditions allow. Benny.

Follow-up on Sylviane's question on UNIFIL. So wouldn't the best way to ensure their safety be, since they are about to in a few months to wind up their operation anyway, to put them all in Nakura at the headquarters rather than be in the middle of a war where both sides are fighting each other. So in war, people, there are casualties.

Well, first of all, we believe that the fighting has to stop and we're trying to do our best, including through our peacekeepers on the ground, to bring it to a stop. Beyond that, of course, as you know, UNIFIL has its mandated tasks and will go about fulfilling its mandate up to the last minute of its mandate.

Are there any, is there any work being done to plan for the winding up of UNIFIL? Mr.

Yes, that's standard with all peacekeeping missions.

Like what? What are we doing? Is our -- Mr.

Without getting into too much detail, we do detailed planning, and there's a wind-down procedure. And as the wind-down procedure gets underway, the Security Council is informed of the measures we're taking.

Is it on its way now? Is it on the way now?

The planning is happening as it does with any mission that has to wind down. Ephraim.

Farhan, does the Secretary General have any reaction on specifically today's attacks in Lebanon, 100 attacks in 10 minutes? Your resident coordinator called it dramatic.

Is there any-- Yes, I said at the start of this that the United Nations strongly condemns the strikes by Israel across Lebanon that resulted in significant civilian casualties. Beyond that, I'd like to point out that our special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called for a stop to all hostile actions, to conduct direct negotiations, and to establish a clear roadmap based on resolution 1701.