UN Transcripts — https://transcripts.un.org/en/sc/10169
Advancing political solutions in the Middle East: mediation and dialogue for a lasting peace - Security Council, 10169th meeting — Security Council — 10 June 2026
Language: en
Automatically generated transcript — may contain errors. Not an official United Nations record.

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Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [0:03]:

The 10,169th meeting of the Security Council is called to order. The The provisional agenda for this meeting is: maintenance of international peace and security, advancing political solutions in the Middle East, mediation and dialogue for a lasting peace. The agenda is adopted. I wish to warmly welcome the Secretary-General, the distinguished minister, and other high-level representatives present in the Security Council chamber at the United Nations. At the headquarters of humankind. Your presence today underscores the importance of the subject matter under discussion. You have a speakers list, that is, a list of speakers who have requested to participate in this meeting in accordance with Rule 37 and 39 of the Council's provisional rules of procedure. This is also in accordance with the Council's previous practice in this regard. As such, I propose that we invite these representatives to participate in this meeting. Given that there are no objective— objections, rather, it is so decided. In accordance with Rule 39 of the Council's Provisional Rules of Procedure, I invite his— I invite His Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to now take the floor. You have the floor.


UN · Secretary-General · Antonio Guterres [2:49]:

Excelentísimo señor Gustavo Petro.

Your Excellency, Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego, President of the Republic of Colombia.

The Middle East is being pulled deeper into crisis, and the consequences reach far beyond the region. This week has brought wider attacks and further deterioration. I am profoundly concerned it could trigger a full resumption of conflict. Escalation in the Middle East reverberates across borders and continents. Through political tensions, displacement and rising insecurity. Through markets and trade routes.— through food and fuel costs. A brutal price is being paid by the region's people. And it is extending to the wider world, particularly the most vulnerable countries and communities. That is why today's discussion matters so much. Mr. President, let me start with the dramatic events in Lebanon. Since March, we have witnessed a serious escalation as Israel intensified its operations in Lebanese territory and Hezbollah fired deeper into Israel. We have seen the killing of civilians, entire communities uprooted and extensive demolition of homes and civilian infrastructure in southern Lebanon, the forced displacement —of over a million civilians. The killing of 7 UN peacekeepers, including one last week. And through it all, the risk and reality of more escalation. All parties must work towards a diplomatic settlement. A settlement that fully respects the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon, within its internationally recognized borders, in line with Security Council Resolution 1701. And I fully support a monopoly on weapons by the Lebanese Government. The process must start with a comprehensive ceasefire, respected by all parties everywhere, alleviating the suffering of communities on both sides of the Blue Line. And I urge a continued United Nations uniformed presence following the departure of UNIFIL, as proposed last week in my letter to this Council. I commend the United States for facilitating talks between Israel and Lebanon, and I hope further negotiations will contribute to lasting peace and stability. Meanwhile, I appeal to all parties to implement the ceasefire agreements. No more attacks. No more excuses. Mr. President, we must address the crisis that lies at the root of wider regional instability. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gone unresolved for decades. It's time to get serious about the only credible way forward: an end to the occupation and a two-state solution where two independent, sovereign democratic states—Israel and Palestine—will live side by side in peace and security within their secure and recognized borders, on the basis of pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States, in line with international law, UN resolutions and other relevant agreements. Delay and denial only perpetuate injustice, fueling extremism in the region and further afield. The situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory—namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem—is rapidly deteriorating. Despite the ceasefire announced 8 months ago, Gaza still faces profound uncertainty and immense human suffering. Violence is on the rise, with civilians killed on a daily basis. Humanitarian operations remain heavily constrained. Basic human needs for clean water, sanitation, food, shelter, healthcare and more are going unmet. And the Israeli government is declaring its intent to control 70% of the Strip. I urge all parties to implement in full and without delay the comprehensive plan facilitated by the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye. I recall Security Council Resolution 2803, and stress that all efforts must adhere to international law, including relevant Security Council resolutions. I also call for the immediate removal of obstacles by Sis— that systematically undermine the nature and scale of humanitarian relief in Gaza. The provision of humanitarian aid must never be used as a bargaining chip. The ceasefire must be consolidated, paving the way for recovery and reconstruction. And any sustainable solution in Gaza must be consistent with international law and ensure that Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remain unified. Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a Palestinian State. Simultaneously, there are alarming reports coming from the occupied West Bank. Reports of settler violence, now averaging 6 attacks per day. The demolition of homes, destruction of farms and confiscation of land. The relentless expansion of illegal Israeli settlements. The ongoing displacement of Palestinians at levels not seen since 1967. The threat of an attempted annexation that would, like the decades-long occupation, have no legal validity; the risk of making a two-state solution impossible when there is no other viable option; and throughout, the presumption of impunity. These injustices must stop, and Member States must comply with all their obligations under international law. No exceptions. Mr. President, let me turn now to the Gulf region where the ceasefire is more like a lesser fire, as we have seen with the escalating attacks and rhetoric over the last 48 hours. And we should not minimize the risks of a lesser fire becoming full fire—or, in another world, full war. For long periods, civilians and civilian infrastructure have come under attack in multiple countries. All threats to national sovereignty and territorial integrity are violations to international law. At the same time, restrictions on navigational rights and freedoms in and around the Strait of Hormuz are causing hardship and instability across the world—driving up energy prices and disrupting supply chains, making fertilizers more costly and hunger more prevalent, pushing up inflation and piling on debt; and in fragile states, raising the risk of fresh conflict. Even in the best-case scenario, these shocks will be felt for many months, with developing countries bearing the heaviest impact. I call on all parties to honour the ceasefire and redouble efforts to reach a lasting agreement. I am particularly thankful to the Government of Pakistan for its active mediation. And I welcome the important contributions of Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. The world needs to see a complete ceasefire. With navigational rights and freedoms restored in line with international law and Security Council Resolution 2817. And serious negotiations on the nuclear issues ensuring that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful. It is time to explore a new security architecture for the Gulf, based on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States, non-interference in their internal affairs, and enhanced multilateral cooperation. Mr. President, any escalation of conflict in the region casts a shadow over Syria. After 13 years of violence, its people are finally tasting peace. Council members witnessed it firsthand on a visit to Damascus 6 months ago. You saw what this transition needs to succeed—from inclusivity and rule of law to transitional justice, intercommunal dialogue and reconstruction. Your continued support for the UN's role and the enhanced presence in Syria will enable us to deliver on these objectives as one UN. Consolidating peace in Syria also requires respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We cannot let progress be jeopardized by further use of force or wider regional instability. Mr. President, in Yemen we have a recent example of mediation in action. Last month, The United Nations supported a group of mediators between the parties to reach an agreement on the release of 1,600 conflict-related detainees. This was part of the implementation of the 2018 Stockholm Agreement, and the largest release agreement since the conflict began. But tensions persist. Threats by the Houthis to curtail navigation rights and freedoms in the Bab-el-Mandeb must stop at once. And I strongly urge the Houthis to immediately and unconditionally release all arbitrarily detained UN personnel, as well as those from NGOs, civil society and diplomatic missions. Our colleagues must be allowed to perform their functions independently and without hindrance, in line with the Charter and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.

Mr. President, dialogue is our best and our only hope for peace. We have seen it in Colombia, where our organization had the privilege of supporting a hard-won peace agreement, and we must pursue it wherever conflict rages—in the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Sudan, and beyond. The UN Charter gives us the rules and the tools we need. Security Council can rally the world to use them. Last year, in Resolution 2788, you yourself urged all member states to effectively utilize the mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes as enshrined in Article 33 of the Charter. This Council holds primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. In accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations, including by the peaceful settlement of international disputes, I commend those member states, regional organizations, and other actors, whether discreetly or openly pursuing the peaceful resolution of conflicts around the world. The United Nations Organization will continue to provide technical expertise and operational support to prevent and resolve all disputes drawing on our decades of experience in this arena. My good offices, as well as the Charter's tools for the peaceful settlement of disputes, are always at your service. As for the Middle East, I urge this Council to put its full weight behind the two-state solution. That is the only key to a just and lasting peace in the region. There is no alternative, and there is no time to waste. I thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [15:16]:

I thank the Secretary-General for his briefing. As President of Colombia, I fully endorse your remarks. I will now make a statement in my capacity as the President of the Republic of Colombia. That is the hat I will now put on. I've been told that I'm going to stay in the government defying the Constitution, but that is not the case. At the end of my mandate, I don't know where I'll be, but I won't be in power. As a citizen of the Republic of Colombia, I know that's the hat I'll be wearing and not that of the President of Colombia. So this is, in fact, perhaps my last statement in this arena. I've delivered a number in the United Nations in general, but this may well be my last. So we're now going to talk about security. I thank you for your remarks, Secretary General, and I'm now going to address you. I'll most likely give a summary of what I could say But what I'm going to say has to do with the following: the use of new ITCs in the hands of a very small group of very powerful people— economically powerful, that is— a very small group worldwide. In my view, this phenomenon has already sowed disinformation. We've seen truth and lies blurred. That's perhaps the first effect of this possession of ITCs and perhaps the most harmful. I am in no way an enemy of science or technology. Applied science, if applied with good reason, I'm in favor of that. But there can be no neutral technology. What's key is why technologies are being developed and used. There are a range of technologies in human hands, and there are a range of goals that one technology can pursue. It's used according to the whims of the, the politicians that it falls in the hands of, and in line with their economic agenda. Truths are distorted, they become lies. Public opinion gets confused. These lies are sowed among the general public. Lies become truths. And as Hawking was saying, the great physicist who recently passed, he was saying that this blurring of truth and lies could lead to the death of humankind. I was not surprised at all because in recent times I've been of the belief— and that's been the position I've adopted in the international arena and the position of my and Colombia's in our diplomacy, which has radiated as far as it's able, our position has been that the climate crisis is the result of the expansive consumption of hydrocarbons from the Industrial Revolution to date. And I was surprised that such a notable physicist that talked— that it was— that talked— the person— it was he who talked about these problems. It wasn't an ideologue. It was a scientist. There's a difference between scientists, science, and ideology. Ideology is in and of itself a twisting of reality. That was said as early on as the 19th century. But the scientists— science is more neutral. Science contemplates humankind, and science is the only thing that can pave the way through ignorance and light our path. There's no doubt that we need to therefore talk about two events, two facts, not only of one. And there's one item that was the primary agenda of the Security Council, and that's one thing I could talk about. But my country— there's another one we could talk about, and I hope my country will bear that in mind when they choose their future. We chart the course of humankind depending on the decisions we take. A key concept here is artificial intelligence in the hands of private— a private elite, an economically powerful elite, and that's what we have today. There's also the phenomenon of the widespread consumption of hydrocarbons as a result of greed, and that has brought us to the climate crisis and brought us to to the wars that you have well rightly described, Secretary-General. That is the fight for hydrocarbons, the fight for oil. That's what makes missiles rain down on peoples, on babies. 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza. Those numbers cannot be hidden. No political or economic interest can conceal that fact. And that is the real red thread of what I'm going to say here, which we're going back to the era of the Nazis. And that is what's happening today expansively across the world. We're not only talking about Gaza now. If you like, that is the cultural origin of the war in the Middle East. But now what's happening, there's oil and stockpiles of nuclear weapons everywhere, and the war is spreading. And that gives us the situation now unfolding in the Middle East, and we're attempting to resolve that situation with more missiles and more war. This situation is entirely bound up with a desire to circumvent a policy or an agenda which should be at the heart of humankind. That agenda is the rapid decarbonization of our world. There are two policies that could resolve the current most dire problems we're facing. Problems that undermine the ability of us all to enjoy the very existence of our plants and animals and undermine our very ability to enjoy life with a capital L across the whole of Mother Earth. And Hawking was saying, he said, well, we don't have a great deal of time left on Earth, some 200 years. I think if we look now, time has run— run— the clock's run down yet further still. Perhaps we've got 100 years left. I think the IPCC, universities, research centers have said just that. They've used their computing methods and models, and they've said that in the area of the planet where my country lies, in 2070, there'll be no water. My children will be alive then, and the children on all of you— of all of you will be alive then, as will your grandchildren. If there's no water in my region. 3 billion people will be where the water is now. It, it will be the end of them. And that is the situation in which we currently found ourselves. And that's a result of this false ideology, this false anti-migration ideology. We've got this policy of barbarism that we're already seeing unfold. And with all of that, what I want to say now is to dwell— is to dwell on this issue and to look at Colombia's experience. We have— what we have to look at now is this fast living that we seem to have now. There's a conflict. I think this conflict has been resolved, but there is a conflict which is once again an epicenter of violence. But we're not talking about Republicans against the monarchy, as was the case of the conflict in the United Kingdom at one point. We're not talking about the Irish conflict, which pit the Irish against the English, or a war between the English and English. All of those wars saw a great eruption of violence, and then things were then resolved, and a great number of people died in these conflicts. Children also did. And great songs were written about these conflicts. I think some of those songwriters have died, but the process was ultimately successful. A peaceful resolution to these conflicts was found. But now houses are burning again, and the conflict has changed face. And we need to analyze current conflicts in depth. Because we're not talking about a conflict in Belfast anymore, but we're really talking about a global conflict, and the source of it is racial hatred. And we must be clear, there is no such thing as race in the world. Race is a human construct. There are cats, dogs, horses, others, and these genes can be manipulated, and all of that's kind of used to create this construct of race, but race no longer exists. And these racial conflicts that there were in, for example, Belfast are now playing out elsewhere. We're going back to the Nazis. They didn't really believe in race, but they manipulated it and brought it to its worst possible conclusion. We have the World War II, the Nazis. Many countries here present collaborated with efforts to defeat the Nazis. They did that as peoples, not as invaded states. States and peoples resisted what was to be the advent of the worst form of slavery on humankind. But today, states aren't as lucid about how to assume their responsibility to fight against racism against their own peoples. Peoples and the concept of race are being manipulated. I'm predicting that these conflicts, these racially fueled conflicts, will spread to and take on dimensions that the popular imagination couldn't have even conceived of previously. So in my opinion, in Belfast, we're seeing suffering similar to that wrought upon Colombia and other countries that I know well. There are other countries I know not so well, but I can nevertheless draw the same conclusion. The power of artificial intelligence is fueling the violence in Belfast, just as it is currently fueling the violence in Colombia. The source is the same. And that is in the midst of the electoral period. To date, these have been the most peaceful elections in my country's history. They've been held held under my government, but I can already see threats rearing their head. When artificial intelligence is in the hands of private companies and individuals today, there's competition, logical market-based competition. But when that logic of competition rears its head, we see monopolies, oligopolies take shape. Today, artificial intelligence is a private oligopoly. And it has produced competition between the United States and China. That is the so-called trade war. That's nothing more than a race to achieve speed, computational capacity. And today, that's the hallmark of development, the development which is afforded to some countries and not others. What we're seeing is the beginning of a new form of social inequality, socioeconomic inequality, dividing human beings. We're not going to allow that form of development to take root. My government's already said that, but we've seen that forces have been sabotaging our project, and we've seen that for years. The capacity for development is located now in two countries, and the others are excluded. They can compete, but the very principle of competition is what's leading to a situation whereby ITC, ITCs, a form of ITCs with computational capacity spreading throughout the world at breakneck speed, or microchip speed if you like. These technologies are being fueled by oil and spreading across the world, and then you end up plunging humankind into a climate crisis. As Hawking said, this is all what happens if you ultimately celebrate— separate, rather, reality from non-reality. We cannot separate or you rather have to be able to separate truth and lies. If you blur the— if you blur the line between truth and lies, that's where the trouble begins. That you'll end up not with half-lies but total lies. And that's what we're seeing in the case of Belfast. And that's what I saw yesterday. I did to go on the X platform before it was called X. I was a bit naive. I'm not technologically adept. I didn't properly contextualize a phrase that was answered by a Colombian during an internal discussion. That person said they'd moved from being liberal to a fascist, but I, I won't give that person's name, but That's not important here. What is important is what happened. I think I put, "Hey Hitler," on that platform, and 34 million people saw what I wrote. I thought, oh no, all of Colombia is watching this debate, laughing at it. But no, that's not possible. ¡La mayor expansión de un fenómeno! I'd never seen a tweet of mine spread to that extent. Even when I was tweeting Donald Trump at a difficult moment of bilateral relations between our countries, there was huge take-up of that tweet. Almost 40— almost all of the adult population of Colombia, even though 40% of our adults have no connectivity. But I began to realize, what's happening, what was happening when I looked at what was playing out in Belfast. What had happened is we were seeing the unleashing of collective violence, and that's exactly what happened with Belfast. The same thing happened. A crime that has to be brought before the courts, that's what we saw. The same thing's playing out in many regions of the world. We see these crimes that are then translated into an ideology or pinned into an ideology that X is sowing the seeds of and spreading. There's a member of the British Parliament on the far right who yesterday wrote— I think he's called Rupert Lowe— and he wrote yesterday, I think, there was an attempt to murder someone. I think the supposed culprit was Somalian. I think we've got the representative of Somalia here, and that MP said that that attempted murder was the result of migration and that all migrants are culpable. And there, that's a Nazi stance being adopted, a criminal Nazi stance right there, because Nazism is not an ideology. Nazi is not even an ideology, it's a crime. So what he— this MP says the migrants are to blame. That's what he said. It was the same not said about the Jews in Europe. Nazis are criminals. And there was this idea that you had to collectivize the blame and put it on the shoulders of a whole group when what we're talking about is one person, and that's actually illegal to do that. It's like when you have a Jew in Germany that committed a crime and Goebbels and Hitler used that to say that the entire Jewish population were responsible. That was the same thing with the Reichstag fire in Berlin. I saw that event. The Reichstag fire was not caused by what they, the Nazis, said it was caused by. They said it had been staged by Jewish Bolsheviks, Jewish Bolshevik Communists. That wasn't the case. They set that fire themselves to blame German Social Democracy, German Jews, socialists, workers, etc., etc., Communists, Jews, peasants, and that was what they used to send them all to jail. The people that helped us neutralize Hitler is currently withdrawing from the international arena, and that's a great shame. I'm on the OFAC list as a result of my ideology. You can't be ashamed of having fought against the Nazis and having defeated them standing shoulder to shoulder with other peoples of Europe. It's a great source of sorrow to see what's happening now. Why are these former allies withdrawing from the stage? Age. They should be flying high that flag, really proud of fighting for life and democracy. What we're seeing in Colombia is exactly the same thing. It's the same thing we're seeing playing out in Belfast. I've explained it more or less. Here, neighbors are beating activists that are debating and standing against this government. Poor neighborhoods are being pitted against each other. Truths are becoming lies, lies are becoming truths. Reality and irreality being mixed. AI is financed hugely by this elite, and that's the problem. We're witnessing global violence that involves missiles raining down against babies, houses burned, wars across the globe. Basta Ya was a slogan. Now it means that's enough, and it was a slogan used to say no, that's enough killing. They were talking about enough murders, but we're not trying to now kill vast swathes of humankind. We're seeing the death penalty for all migrants. That's what's being called for. The owner of this X network is championing such policies. There's this idea that all migrants should be sent to their deaths, and with that proposal, what should we do with it? Hitler. That's not who we should be focusing on. We've got this anti-migrant ideology, we've got this racist policy because it claims to defend this whiteness of one's skin that is an artificial construct because there is no race in the world. There are myriad ways of binding with, relating to nature. Workers are equal across the world, whatever their skin color, whatever their origins, whichever region they come from. So these scientific falsehoods see us deny science, and that's what we're seeing on this issue and on the climate crisis, and that's bringing us to the brink of barbarism. And that's the very opposite goal to that pursued by this Council. Israel's withdrawn. Their people came here. Their people suffered a Holocaust waged against them by the Nazis. They came to the United States whose people were the sons of workers and peasants, millions in their millions. They came to the United States, went to other countries, and their struggle was won. That is the struggle for humankind and life, and we need to honor these people, but we need to recognize why today the truth is being distorted into lies. So I would ask all of you to wage a war on these two fronts. The first, Stephen Hawking, the physicist, said the first front was AI, and that was an issue he pointed to. Then there's the anti-immigration discourse. Today that discourse is much more powerful than it was and has been taken up and heeded by the majority of voters in many countries because that ideology is being disseminated through AI, through the manipulation of humankind's conscience. It's being manipulated by a tiny elite with a huge amount of power, power that's rallying behind the same single vision: the idea that the white race that doesn't exist needs to be defended from a cultural aggression which is seeking to exterminate them. That's what they say, but no such thing is happening because the United Nations is the very proof of the fact that what we want to see is a global democracy. A democracy which can see us sit down as different civilizations and talk to each other. So allow me to conclude: artificial intelligence cannot be managed by 5 individuals with private interests, whether they're Chinese, you know, from the United States, or wherever else they may hail from. AI needs to be globally regulated. This has been called for by the ideological school, or part of it, the school to which I belong, and it's now being called for by the Catholic Church through its spokesperson, Pope Leo XIV. He recently called for that regulation in his encyclical, Magnificent Humankind. He talked about human brotherliness. How can we get there? That was the very purpose of the founding of the United Nations after a horrific war that caused 50 million deaths in Europe, some 20-25 million in Asia. That was the UN's purpose. But how do we achieve that purpose? I propose that we embark upon this journey by tackling the main source of conflict and insecurity, that is AI and its propagation of anti-migration discourse. Let's tackle that. There needs to be global and public regulation of artificial intelligence. There needs to be an international treaty under international law. We need to be restoring international law and salvaging it from any attempts to destroy it, attempts that we're seeing today. International law, if you get rid of it, you'll see barbarism. That's what you see in the distortion of photos. Oh, and this distortion is done with a Nazi ideology behind it. Again, these lines between truth and reality being blurred, that's what AI that's badly regulated does. It's badly regulated when other interests are behind it, and that's why we need democratic public regulation of AI. That's what we're— we are discussing that, but it's not the main point of our agenda. And in fact, it is the very crux of peace, because Jürgen Habermas, recently passed, he, the philosopher, was saying that the lack of communication means that what we used to have are real criminals in the dock, and now what you have is people that adopt a different stance to you. Who is now untried. He was saying that lack of social communication is the very source of violence. That was that philosopher's discourse. If there's no such thing as social communication, or if it's manipulated, what we end up with is violence and barbarism. And so this is my appeal to you on behalf of my martyred people, my people that have fallen victim to violence, as have many other peoples in the Third World, if that's what you want to call it. Because the English member of parliament said that the Third World are those that are to blame because they're barbarians. How dare he call them barbarians! Barbarians deny other people's cultures. The Romans dealt with the barbarians, and Alexander the Great himself talked about a dialogue between civilizations instead of barbarians, and that is the right path. Dialogue between civilizations, not this dissolution of dialogue that will bring us to barbarism, to the end of democracy, and to the end of humankind. This war cannot be won by the richest among us or that person who has the most missiles. That's not how the war is won. Now let me talk about the climate crisis that was my— the focus of my speech initially. How can you deny science? The global agenda is now one of migration and war. Wars caused by oil. We're not focusing on the rapid decarbonization of our world and the global and public regulation of artificial intelligence. I think these, these are the two focuses we need to have to rescue the brotherly relations binding humans together and to bring to peace. What binds humans together is respect and communication, respect for science and respect for science. Respect and respect for science as two separate things. If we forget all of that, we'll end up plunged into barbarism. Here, people sitting around this table will end up walking away from this table because communication will— social communication will be denied. No one will be listening to anyone else. That philosopher Habermas talked about the rupture, the breakdown of social communication, and how that led to violence. I think that was was a message conveyed when the Twin Towers fell and we started to talk about social justice. Social justice is dialogue between those that don't agree, and it involves them ultimately finding common ground. Then there's the migration crisis, but behind the migration crisis is war, the climate crisis, and the impoverishment of economies fueled by greed. If you get a coffee on the corner, I don't know, is it $2? I'm not sure how much it is, but very expensive because it's right here next to the UN HQ. But they only give a minuscule amount of that money to the coffee producers, for example, in Colombia. That's a result of a lack of social justice in the world. It can be easily resolved as problems go, but if we don't talk to each other, no solutions can be found. I talk to the the President of the United States personally, face-to-face in his office, and the conversation was a pleasant one, and I thought that we'd been talking about— talking man-to-man and not about business, so I left all happy. Today, the President of the United States is supporting a candidate defying explicitly the Constitution. Because he's spearheading this ideology, going against the very Pope himself. Of course, everyone has the right to their own beliefs, whatever those beliefs might be, including the Islamic— is the Islam faith. And that is a very principle of democracy, freedom of worship. That must be protected. That's one thing. I'm not Catholic, not entirely, because I saw— I saw wars play out between churches and peoples. But today I can embrace some of its ideology, and that is the idea that we're united in our diversity. Ultimately, what's important is not falling into the trap of this anti-migration ideology. That's a Nazi ideology. And that's why I'm victimized when I come here and say things like that. Colombian migrants here are being hit, punched, sent to concentration camps. They're being put in chains. I've opposed just that. And that in the past is a problem that has been solved by dialogue. My government paid for me to come here. I paid for my own flights, but what I was essentially paying for is dignity, and I don't think that's a bad way to spend your money. So this problem of migrants being chained and coming back to my country was solved. They're no longer being chained, and it was a good thing to pay for. That was all a solution reached with dialogue. Thank you, Secretary-General. I'll leave it there. I now wish again to resume my function as President of the Council. And that brings me to my speakers list. We are now going to begin with— that's our third speaker. We have the representative of Pakistan. Thank you. Thank you.


Pakistan [47:46]:

Thank you, Mr. President, and we welcome your presence, Mr. President, to chair this timely debate, and we commend Colombia for its effective stewardship of the Council this month. As we heard the Secretary-General, the situation in the Middle East is fragile and increasingly volatile. Across the region, unresolved disputes have become protracted conflicts and cycles of violence are becoming normalized. Persistent disregard for international law, non-implementation of Security Council resolutions, and the absence of genuine political processes have diminished the prospects for achieving lasting peace, stability, and security. At such a moment, it is important to remind ourselves that advancing political solutions is a foundational obligation under the Charter. The Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the oldest and biggest issues on this Council's agenda. Mideast is one of the world's most complex political landscapes where history, identity, culture, civilization, and religion intersect profoundly. These realities cannot be ignored or oversimplified. Peace efforts must therefore account for these sensitivities with care, balance, objectivity, and deep understanding. Mr. President, the situation on ground could not be worse. In Gaza, after nearly 3 years of devastating conflict and Israeli onslaught, humanitarian suffering reached catastrophic proportions. Concerted efforts led by U.S. President Donald Trump and supported by —group of 8 Arab Islamic countries including Pakistan— culminated in the Gaza peace plan and Resolution 2803. However, despite the ceasefire, violations and killings of Palestinians continue, while in the West Bank, a deliberate policy of settlement expansion, settler violence, and unilateral actions undermine the viability of a two-state solution. In Lebanon, the cessation of hostilities framework and Resolution 1701 continue to be violated. Relentless Israeli bombardment has killed thousands while the illegal occupation of southern Lebanon keeps on expanding. Syria, with its new leadership and bold political decisions, is making efforts towards gradual stabilization Yet it also continues to face occupation. The situation in Yemen also warrants international attention. Ultimately, only an inclusive, Yemeni-led and Yemeni-owned political process under U.N. auspices can deliver peace. President— Pakistan views the developments in West Asia and broader Gulf region with with great concern. The war's impact on regional and global peace and stability, as well as on international economy, particularly energy and food security, are obvious. It took concerted mediation efforts led by Pakistan, together with our other partners including Türkiye, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and others including Qatar and China, efforts of the UN and the cooperation of the parties themselves to bring about a ceasefire and de-escalation that enabled the parties to return to the negotiations. And I also appreciate the Secretary-General's support for these efforts. While progress has been made, the situation remains tense. Our immediate priority must be to continue diplomacy, achieve complete cessation of hostilities, and normalization of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, which is vital for all countries in the region and beyond. A comprehensive, peaceful settlement of all issues is imperative for lasting peace and stability. Pakistan supports the sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, political independence, and security of all brotherly countries in the region. Pakistan also has expressed continued and unwavering support and complete solidarity with the fraternal GCC countries in these challenging times. President, the U.N. has historically played a central role in facilitating dialogue, mediation, and conflict resolution efforts in the Middle Middle East. While political initiatives have met varying degrees of success, they demonstrate the enduring value of sustained diplomacy and multilateral engagement in the pursuit of a just and lasting peace. In this context, several principles must guide our collective approach. First, international law and the United Nations Charter must remain the bedrock of of all efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts. Second, the faithful implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolutions 242, 1701, 497, and 2803, must be ensured. Illegal occupation of Arab lands must end. Ceasefires must be respected and humanitarian assistance must flow unimpeded. Third, sustainable peace cannot emerge without addressing the root causes. This was a point highlighted by the SG as well. The Palestinian question remains at the very core of efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region. A time-bound and irreversible political process anchored in relevant UN resolutions must lead to the establishment of a sovereign, independent, and contiguous State of Palestine on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. Fourth, a comprehensive peace in the region must be founded on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter: the right to self-determination, end to illegal occupation of Arab lands, and the security of all people. In the region. In this regard, the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative provides a concrete framework to guide our collective efforts towards a lasting peace. President— Pakistan's longstanding commitment to peace is reflected in concrete action. In July last year, Pakistan successfully led the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2788 that reaffirms our collective resolve for diplomacy, mediation, and other means for pacific settlement of disputes. And as a practical manifestation of that, Pakistan remains actively engaged in efforts to advance the Gaza peace plan and in facilitating dialogue and mediation aimed at reducing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, efforts that that continue to this day. Navigating these complex and sensitive issues demands patience, resolve, and objectivity by all. That continues to guide Pakistan's approach. The Middle East today requires peace, and so does the rest of the world. The costs of continued conflict are no longer contained or confined within borders. They reverberate globally. The responsibility before this Council is therefore clear: to place diplomacy above confrontation, dialogue above division, and international law above expediency. This is the path toward lasting peace, and this is the path path that we must collectively pursue. I thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [56:40]:

Hola, gracias. I now thank the representative of Pakistan and we give the floor to the Security Council representative of Panama.


Panama [56:52]:

Thank you, President, sir. Panama is grateful to Colombia for convening this timely open debate. It invites us to contemplate the role of mediation and dialogue and political solutions to move towards peace in the Middle East. We welcome to this council His Excellency Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego, President of the Republic of Colombia, who does us the honor of presiding over this this meeting. We also value the briefing of the Secretary-General. We thank him for that briefing and for the United Nations' unstinting efforts and his own to prevent conflicts, foster mediation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The peace is often described as an inspiration— an aspiration, rather. However, it is also a decision. The decision to engage in dialogue when it is— comes more easily to fight. The decision to build trust when suspicion and fear reign. It is only by choosing dialogue that we can build a lasting peace rooted in international law and in compliance with commitments entered into by us all through the United Nations Charter. Latin America and the Caribbean offer a number of invaluable lessons in this regard. There were the efforts led by the Contadora Group that served to lay the foundations for the peace processes in Central America. There was the achievement of the peace agreements in Colombia. Both of these examples demonstrate that our region has proved that when political will prevails alongside mediation, negotiation, and the building of trust, we can see results in the most complex environments. I share with you all of this in the light of our own experience. We fully recovered our sovereignty over the Panama Canal, and that is an example of political leadership, an example of where the multilateral system functioned and allowed the world to demonstrate its solidarity. And this system motivated parties to commit, as they did, to dialogue, negotiations in good faith, and these ultimately led to the achievement of a just agreement that remains in force. Each conflict has its own unique characteristics and dynamics, that is true, but these experiences point to one common fact: peace cannot be imposed, it can only be built. This reality applies absolutely to the Middle East. Their political will and Trust remain as scant as they are crucial for peacebuilding. The Palestinian question remains at the heart of the political and security challenges facing this region. After decades of conflict, reality has demonstrated that military might is not able to address the deeply rooted nature of this crisis, a crisis which worsens day by day It is only the rule of law, peace underpinned by dialogue, good faith negotiations, and a genuine desire to enforce commitments entered into that can create the necessary conditions for a comprehensive lasting solution. There was a roadmap charted by member states and the resolutions by this— from the Security Council. We have the roadmap. We must now follow it. Panama supports a negotiated political solution that will allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security, and dignity. President, the Middle East is not only a theater of war. It is an arena of difficulties and uncertainty, but from which opportunities have emerged—opportunities which could contribute to regional stability. In Syria, we believe it's vital to continue to support efforts aimed at strengthening state institutions, promoting inclusive governance, and making headway with national reconciliation. In Lebanon, we value efforts by the government and the Lebanese Armed Forces to strengthen the legitimate authority— the state, and we also hail the Lebanese and Israeli authorities' willingness to participate in direct negotiations and dialogue mechanisms. In both cases, we reaffirm the need to fully respect the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of states. It's also crucial to preserve the security, safety, and operational capacity of both UNDOF and UNIFIL and of of humanitarian personnel whose presence remains vital for regional stability. All parties have the obligation to respect and protect their integrity and security. Turning now to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and the countries of the Gulf, Panama is of the view that the stability of this strategic maritime waterway is vital to preserve the freedom of navigation, energy security, and the smooth functioning of global supply chains. If the principle of free navigation is not upheld, civilians and those most vulnerable will ultimately, alongside the rest of the world, end up paying the highest price for the lack of political leadership and diplomatic efforts—sufficient diplomatic efforts, that is—designed to achieve tangible agreements. We reiterate our solidarity with the countries of the Gulf at this juncture so critical for the region. We thank all stakeholders with influence to bring to bear, including Pakistan, for their efforts to mediate between the parties. No mediation or negotiation efforts can bear fruit while we continue to see violence and escalation of hostilities. As such, we emphasize that we must support uphold in good faith all cessations of hostilities, however fragile they may be. These cessations of hostilities remain vital prerequisites to keep channels for negotiation open and to move towards lasting political solutions. It is vital to impede and repudiate any action by any actor, be they state or non-state, any action that intentionally attempts to undermine mediation efforts and the possibilities of reaching agreements. With this in mind, we acknowledge the position adopted by the United States and other regional actors, as they have urged parties to halt violence and choose a path which offers greater opportunities for achieving comprehensive, lasting solutions for for lasting peace. President, in the various contexts of conflict and transition in the region, women and girls are disproportionately bearing the brunt of the impacts of violence, insecurity, displacement, and worsening socioeconomic conditions. The United Nations must continue to play a central and indeed strengthened role in preventing and resolving conflict. It is incumbent upon the Security Council, as the primary organ for the maintenance of international peace and security, to act with political will to ensure effective and objective compliance with its own mandates in accordance with international law. It's also incumbent upon the Council to promote the trust and the consensus that is vital to prevent and resolve conflict. We reaffirm our full support for the mediation and good offices of the Secretary-General, his envoys and special representatives, as well as for the mechanisms for cooperation between the United Nations regional organizations and the various existing multilateral platforms for dialogue. President, the peoples of the Middle East, just like the peoples of the world as a whole, deserve a future of peace, human dignity, justice, and well-being, and not a future beset by violence, confrontation, fear, and uncertainty. This continues to be the challenge of our generation and a responsibility that the United Nations cannot evade. Thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:05:56]:

Bien, gracias, señor. I thank The representative of the sisterly Republic of Panama. And I now give the floor to the representative of Latvia. I give you the floor, madam.


Latvia [1:06:13]:

You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. At the outset, I would like to welcome His Excellency Gustavo Petro, President of the Republic of Colombia, presiding over today's meeting. And I would also like to thank Secretary-General António Guterres for his intervention and for his steadfast commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East. Mr. President, for decades unresolved conflicts in the Middle East have been on the Security Council agenda. And our deliberations today take place at a critical juncture for the Middle East amid renewed escalation, and the need for mediation is urgent to end the suffering of the civilians. In Lebanon, 1.4 million displaced people require humanitarian assistance. In Gaza, humanitarian access must be implemented urgently and in full to provide shelter, healthcare, and sanitation. In Yemen, nearly 20 million are struggling to meet basic needs and access essential services amid protracted crisis. Since its foundation, the UN has been the cornerstone of the international peace architecture. As a central pillar of mediation, the good offices of the Secretary-General have demonstrated the UN's unique ability to bring conflicting parties together and consolidate mediation tracks by individual member states or regional— The UN's comparative advantage lies in its impartiality, global mandate, and institutional continuity, which must be protected and strengthened. And we express our gratitude to the representatives, envoys, coordinators, and their teams entrusted with carrying out the Secretary-General's good offices in extremely complex environments. We also welcome the local mediation and the conflict efforts of the UNDOF, UNIFIL, UNSO peacekeeping operations, which play an important role in reducing tensions, preserving stability, and fostering peace. And sustainable peace is best achieved through inclusive dialogue and mediation processes that meaningfully engage women, youth, and civil society as essential partners in building lasting solutions. The UN Charter and international law must remain at the core of all peace efforts to ensure that resolutions of conflicts are grounded in agreed principles, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of every state. Mr. President, when open diplomacy reaches its limits, the Secretary-General can create political space, mobilize resources and act discreetly. We have seen this through initiatives such as UNWIM in Yemen or Black Sea Grain Initiative, which enabled safe transportation of grain from Ukraine to 45 countries across 3 continents. And these are examples to build upon. Now, restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is most pressing. We commend the established task force and the engagement of Secretary General's personal envoy, to advance safe passage of fertilizers and related raw materials through Strait of Hormuz. Freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz must be ensured without delay. Respect for international law fully applies to maritime security. It is categorically unacceptable for Iran or any other state for that matter to use the international waterways as a bargaining chip or hold the global economy hostage. It is equally unacceptable for Iran to carry out unprovoked attacks against its neighbors. There is no alternative to a diplomatic solution to this conflict. So we commend the sustained efforts of Pakistan, but also the contribution of Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar, and others to bridge divides and create channels for dialogue and de-escalation. We recognize and welcome constructive mediation initiatives, also outside the UN framework, to achieve ceasefire and use leverage on the conflicting parties across the whole Middle East. Security Council's mandate and oversight provides legitimacy, coherence, and broad international support to such mediation initiatives. In this light, we look forward to the Board of Peace's continued engagement with the Security Council on advancing the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict put forward by President Trump and endorsed by this Council, Resolution 2803. Full implementation of this comprehensive plan in accordance with the agreed phased approach is vital to prevent the resurgence of violence in Gaza. And clearly, Hamas and other non-state armed groups must to disarm and relinquish power. And we also urge Israel to ensure unconditional humanitarian access in Gaza and withdraw forces from Gaza as outlined in the comprehensive plan. And we insist yet again that a political process is the only way to lasting peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution, as most recently defined by the New York Declaration. In Lebanon, We urge all parties to adhere to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreements, which enables progress towards sustainable peace while safeguarding the sovereignty of both countries. International humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, journalists, medical and humanitarian personnel, and peacekeepers, must be respected by all parties at all times. To conclude, Mr. President, No country, however distant, can afford the luxury of indifference or neutrality in the face of armed violence. Whether in the Middle East, Ukraine, or elsewhere, wars and conflicts undermine the foundations of international peace and security. It requires from all member states a principled engagement in pursuit of political solutions, and from the Security Council to take action and demand full respect for the UN Charter, international law, international humanitarian law, and the Security Council resolutions. The renewed escalation in the last few days in the Middle East, leading to strikes, civilian casualties, and suffering, in violation of ceasefire agreements and against mediation efforts, confirmed that peace and security in the Middle East require persistent efforts from the entire international community, guided by a shared commitment to cooperation and mutual respect. The people of the region aspire to peace and human dignity as indispensable foundation for prosperity and development. And lasting peace can never be achieved through military action. It requires dialogue, diplomacy, and genuine engagement. And we remain convinced that mediation efforts will lead to a lasting peace. Peace only when all parties respect the UN Charter, international law, international humanitarian law, and faithfully implement the ceasefires and peace agreements to which they have committed. I thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:13:37]:

Gracias, señora.

I thank the representative of Latvia. I now give the floor to the representative of France.


France [1:13:49]:

Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor of the Council to have you come and preside over it, Mr. President of the Republic. You are overlooking the fate of the country which is coming out of a dialogue at the end of a confrontation. This dialogue resolved the conflict and we are now talking about the situation north Northern Ireland. We are grateful for having on our agenda the topic of peace in the Middle East, and we would like to thank the Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, for his briefing, which shows how relevant this topic is, how central it is when it comes to peace and security that this Council is entrusted with. In the Middle East, one thing is clear: from Gaza to Tehran, from Tel Aviv to Beirut, via southern Lebanon— war is everywhere. The international terrorism is still there, and extremist ideologies are calling for violence and mutually fueling each other. And it's the civilians who are suffering. They are suffering from bombs, forced displacements, terror attacks, food insecurity, and they're victims of fanaticism and violence. And as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz shows, the consequences of this conflict transcend regional borders, and the instability they cause is a challenge to international peace and security. However, the history of the crises in the Middle East reminds for us an essential truth that no lasting peace can be achieved by force. No military victory can be a substitute for a political settlement. Mr. President, in this context, it is incumbent upon this council to support credible, inclusive political solutions that are in line with international law, and France is firmly committed to this. In Lebanon, we call on all parties to implement the June 3rd ceasefire agreement and to uphold Resolution 1701. Hezbollah must cease its attacks and withdraw north of the Litani River. Hezbollah must give up its weapons and put an end to its military activities. At the same time, we call on Israel to begin its withdrawal from the Lebanese territory. We support the direct talks between Lebanon and Israel under the aegis of the United States, and they must continue. We will continue to provide our full support to the Lebanese authorities who are recovering their full sovereignty, and will organize an international conference in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces in Paris as soon as the situation allows. And finally, we will continue to support UNIFIL's mandate. The mission must be able to exer— to exercise its mandate fully and in unhindered way, its personnel respected and protected until its conclusion. We wish to contribute to the definition of international framework in support of Lebanon's sovereignty after the departure of the force. In Gaza, Gaza, where the situation remains a precarious ceasefire and serious humanitarian crisis there. We call for the full implementation of Resolution 2803, which includes respecting the ceasefire, lifting obstacles to humanitarian aid and support for reconstruction, the disarmament of Hamas and Israel's withdrawal, as well as the return of a reformed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. France is firmly opposed to any plans for annexation or forced displacement of the population. We will continue to pass sanctions against entities and individuals involved in such projects and remain mobilized with its partners in the European Union to take trade measures to stop this trend. We reiterate that the E1 project is a threat to the integrity of the State of Palestine and must not see the light of day. At the same time, and as of now, we must continue our support for a credible political horizon towards a two-state solution in accordance with the New York Declaration. We call for the resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians as provided for in Resolution 2803, and we are firmly committed to this. On June 12th, in Paris, we will host a gathering of Israeli and Palestinian civil society because the peacemakers Palestinians need our support now more than ever, and peace is impossible without satisfying the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people as well as the Israeli right to security. In Iran, France calls on all parties to avoid further escalation and to establish free and safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. We're preparing to contribute to this together with our partners by setting up a neutral and defensive multinational mission that will protect ships and participate in demining operations. Beyond that, France is mobilized to support efforts towards a diplomatic solution, which must include a lasting and verifiable framework for Iran's nuclear program. Mr. President, the pathway— the peace is possible, even if it's fragile and threatened The promise of a new Syria shows us that and is worthy of all of our support. And the path— peace is possible. The pathways to it are known. All parties must demonstrate the necessary political will to end hostilities and embark on the path of lasting and inclusive political solutions. It's up to this council to show the needed collective determination within its decisions. This is the responsibility we have under the charter. I thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:19:41]:

Thank you to you, Representative of France. We now continue with the Representative of the Russian Federation.


Russian Federation [1:19:55]:

Mr. President, distinguished President of Colombia, we welcome your participation in the open debate and thank the Colombian presidency for choosing such an important topic We thank the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, for his assessment of the situation in the region. The Middle East occupies a special place on the world map. The region became the cradle of great civilizations of antiquity and of all Abrahamic religions. All peoples who inhabited and inhabit the Middle East have made an invaluable contribution to world culture. Arts and science. And the region has faced many trials— the rule of empires, which was replaced by indirect confrontation between great powers, a whole series of Arab-Israeli wars, conflicts related to ideology, land, and the wealth of the region. And today, against the backdrop of unprecedented escalation, the dreams of the advent of lasting peace in the Middle East still seem more elusive than ever, unfortunately. The process of redrawing the political map of the region under pressure from extra-regional players and with the assistance of a number of states within the region continues. Iran, which is a civilization-state whose history spans millennia, stands in the way of the plans of these forces to complete their reformating of the Middle Eastern political and geographical landscape. For a long time, efforts have been undertaken to create an anti-Iranian camp on the basis of the Abraham Accords under the pretext of normalizing relations between Arabs and Israel. Russia, in principle, supports the very idea of strengthening Israel's security. Achieving this goal would be a positive result for all of us because a stable and A strong Israel developing good relations with all of its neighbors is a solid guarantee of peace throughout the region. But the question is about the means, which are not always capable of justifying the goal— far from it. What kind of stability can be offered by those who are ready to sacrifice for this Palestinian statehood or stability in Iran? This would be false stability, concealing within it conflict politics of delayed action. Those who fanatically intend to return Iran to the Stone Age, to destroy the Palestinian political movement Hamas or the Lebanese Hezbollah, do not bring peace or prosperity closer. Quite to the contrary, they only deepen existing lines of division. And the same line is also the policy of creating buffer zones of security in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. We strongly condemn such actions and call on the Israeli authorities to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of its neighbors, including the implementation of the provisions of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement on the Syrian Golan and compliance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We share the assessments voiced by the Secretary-General about the absence of military solutions to all the interlinked conflicts in the Middle East. Middle East. The path forward lies through dialogue and negotiations. We note positively Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General's unified call for ceasefire in Lebanon, Iran, and Gaza, and this confirms the thesis about the direct interdependence between these conflicts. In the context, we consider the decision of Washington to establish a truce with Iran as the only correct one, and we expect that all forces involved in the current confrontation in the region will adhere to these. Unfortunately, in the recent days, we have witnessed a fresh potential escalation, and we call on all of the parties to prevent such a scenario. Mr. President, history knows many examples of attempts to ignore the security interests of individual states, which led to catastrophic consequences for the whole world. Russia believes in the need to resolve the region's problems by collective efforts within the framework of a broad negotiating process, and we assign a special role here to the Security Council. We can and should oblige all countries of the region, together with key extra-regional players, to gather together in one platform to develop common rules for building relations and addressing claims, which will allow agreeing on security guarantees for all. It would be possible then to begin with narrower formats. Thus, in Russia's updated concept of ensuring collective security in the Persian Gulf zone, there are practical proposals for strengthening confidence-building measures in the region, which ultimately should lead to a stable and conflict-free Middle East open to broad international cooperation. The Security Council should not attempt to impose a solution beneficial exclusively to one one side or directed against any regional state. We adhere to such an approach also with regard to the settlement of the issues of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Maritime navigation must be safe throughout the world oceans, and attempts to impose rules of the game to the advantage of some countries will inevitably provoke opposition from others. Those who do not agree with them. Common standards must be developed honestly, jointly, without ultimatums and blackmail. And we are ready to engage in such work. Mr. President, under the conditions of unprecedented escalation of tension surrounding Iran, without exaggeration, affecting the whole world, we should remember that the Palestinian issue remains a cornerstone for the entire Middle East. We're not going to dwell in detail on the actual stalling of Security Council Resolution 2803 in support of President Trump's plan for Gaza. The Council will have a dedicated meeting on this at the end of the month. But we would only like to point out that the attempts to discard, as allegedly outdated, the international legal basis for the Palestinian settlement, including well-known decisions passed by Security Council and General Assembly, would lead— will lead to nothing good. We should focus on launching direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis for practical discussions of issues of the final status of the Palestinian territories and the parameters of the two-state formula. Historical justice will prevail when Palestinians gain the opportunity to create an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with its capital in East Jerusalem, coexisting in peace and security with Israel. We're open to engagement under such principles with all constructively-minded partners. I thank you for your attention.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:27:02]:

Gracias, señor.

I thank the representative of the Russian Federation. I now give the floor to Sir— Madam— Sir The representative of the United Kingdom before the United Nations Security Council, you have the floor.


United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [1:27:22]:

President, and I thank the Secretary-General for his briefing. Escalating conflicts in the Middle East have had a devastating human cost and led to a wider regional and global instability. We have seen death, displacement, and destruction. The basic foundations of life such as healthcare, shelter, food, and education becoming a daily struggle. The United Nations and this Council play a crucial role in fostering peace. We underline the importance of the Secretary-General's good offices in preventing and resolving conflicts, as well as upholding international law. Mr. President, in regards to the escalation in the region in recent days, the United Kingdom is clear clear that all efforts should be focused on achieving a lasting, peaceful settlement. A return to widespread hostilities is in no one's interest. All sides must show restraint, de-escalate, and continue working towards a diplomatic solution. We condemn Iran's continued attempts to hold the global economy to ransom by closing the Strait of Hormuz. As well as their attacks on the region, including those overnight against Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan. We stand with our partners in the Gulf in the face of these reckless attacks. We call on Iran to de-escalate, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to restore freedom of navigation as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to engage in meaningful dialogue with the Nevertheless, US. we welcome the efforts of Pakistan and others to support a diplomatic solution. Amidst this difficult backdrop, we must not lose sight of Gaza and the promise of Security Council Resolution 2803. All parties must deliver on their commitments and uphold the ceasefire. We urge Hamas to fulfill its commitment to decommission its weapons and destroy terror infrastructure. And we urge Israel to lift its indefensible restrictions on humanitarian access and to allow the UN, including UNRWA, and international NGOs to deliver life-saving assistance in line with its obligations under international law. Humanitarian aid must never be conditional or used as a political tool. We must also reverse deeply worrying trends in the West Bank which undermine prospects for peace. Yesterday, the United Kingdom announced new sanctions on those responsible for settler violence, and we will not hesitate to take further steps to protect the viability of a two-state solution. In Lebanon, Recent escalation has threatened the hard-won ceasefire brokered by the United States. We urge all actors to cease hostilities immediately and engage constructively in negotiations. We are appalled by the death of another UNIFIL peacekeeper and the injury of two others last week. We urge all parties to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel in accordance with international And in Syria, we've seen important progress towards reconstruction and stability, and we welcome ongoing cooperation between the UN and Syria in support of an inclusive political transition. However, we are concerned about continued Israeli incursions into southern Syria, which risk undermining this progress. We urge Israel to resume negotiations with the Syrian government and to pursue a diplomatic solution. The United King— the United Nations was built upon a key founding principle: to protect future generations from the scourge of war. Devastation and suffering in the Middle East must act as a powerful reminder of the very purpose of this institution and spur us into action to end the cycle of violence and build a peaceful and prosperous future for the people of the region. The United Kingdom will continue to champion the UN's unique role in helping to build and maintain this peace. Mr. President, I came here to discuss the situation in the Middle East, but it's important to be clear about tackling conflict and countering intolerance wherever they exist. The United Kingdom is proud of the achievements to build peace in Northern Ireland over decades, in partnership with the Government of Ireland and with the support of the United States. Just as we've been proud to support the peace process in Colombia over the last decade. Peace and stability require continuous effort to counter those who would undermine them. As my Prime Minister said today, the scenes in Belfast last night last night were shocking and completely unacceptable. There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere. And he goes on: It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their backgrounds, and I will not tolerate it. Those responsible will feel the full force of the law, end of quote. But it is not helpful or appropriate to conflate individual acts of racism and violence with the heinous crimes committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. And I thank you. Gracias.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:33:14]:

I thank the representative of the United Kingdom. I will not reply directly. It's not appropriate to harness individual criminal acts and to conflate them with— or to use them for collective punishment. That's a form of racism, to use one to leverage the other, and racism is something we need to guard against in the world as a whole. I now give the floor to Denmark.


Denmark [1:33:53]:

Thank you, Mr. President, and let me also thank the Secretary-General for his briefing. Denmark pays tribute to the Secretary-General and to the countless UN staff members across the Middle East working to build and sustain peace. Mr. President, no two conflicts are identical, each emerged from its own history and is shaped by its own specific context. That is also the case in the Middle East. At the same time, many of the conflicts in the region are interlinked. Across the diversity of cause and condition, one truth endures: dialogue and diplomacy are indispensable to the peaceful settlement of disputes. The tools of preventive diplomacy are well known to this Council. From the use of mediation to the good offices of the Secretary-General and the deployment of envoys. When used actively and strategically, they can prevent conflict and secure ceasefires as a first step to the path to peace. Mr. President, across the Middle East, we see diplomacy in action with several fragile ceasefires in place. The ceasefire between Iran and the US must be sustained. We are alarmed by the renewed escalation and call for all parties to implement the ceasefire. This is imperative not only for regional stability, but also for the global economy. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has enormous repercussions, including soaring energy prices and rising food insecurity across the world. The Strait must be reopened and freedom of navigation must be restored immediately. We call on Iran to stop its attacks and engage in negotiations in good faith. We reiterate that Iran should never acquire a nuclear weapon. The ceasefire in Lebanon is also under profound strain, with the recent escalation worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis, with more than 20% of Lebanon's population displaced. All military action should cease immediately. Hezbollah must withdraw to the south from the South Litani sector. Israel must respect Lebanon's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and withdraw from Lebanese territory. The fighting has to halt for a ceasefire to be implemented. In this fragile context, a strong and effective UN presence in Lebanon in support of Resolution 1701 remains essential. As UNIFIL's mandate approaches its end, We must work to avoid a vacuum of attention, engagement, and security. Mr. President, no less urgent or critical is the ceasefire in Gaza, a ceasefire hard-earned through tireless international mediation efforts and followed by the adoption of Resolution 2803. This ceasefire must likewise be fully implemented, as must all the provisions of Resolution 2803, including Hamas' obligation to disarm. We deplore the catastrophic humanitarian situation and deeply regret that restrictions on humanitarian provisions and rehabilitation of essential infrastructure have not yet been lifted. 7 months after this Council adopted Resolution 2803, there continues to be a lack of food, medicines and other items essential for survival. The human costs of these restrictions are devastating. It is exactly the human cost that we must never forget. From Iran over the Gulf to Lebanon and Gaza, our message individually and collectively must be clear: ceasefires must be respected by all sides at all times. A ceasefire that only exists on paper will save no lives. Mr. President, ceasefires, however, are not the end of the journey. What lies beyond the ceasefire is the task of lasting peace. It is the task of quiet courage, compromise, and a willingness to overcome the past. One that is supported by UN-led mediation paired with regional security mechanisms. One where mediators do not become targets and where civilians across the region can live side by side in peace. This is why we cannot let the two-state solution, the only viable solution for lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, slipped through our fingers. Today, however, that solution is under unprecedented threat, in particular by the recent developments in the West Bank, including the E1 plan. The Security Council must act to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution and work to restore a genuine path towards achieving it. The New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine is instrumental in that regard. Mr. President, in closing, the challenges facing the region are complex and immense. But we must resist the temptation of fatalism. With commitment to fully implementing these ceasefires, with regional security mechanisms, with UN-led and UN-supported mediation efforts, and with the leadership of this Council, progress is possible. These tools must be used more readily more adequately financed, and supported politically by this Council. Denmark stands ready to play our part to this important end. I thank you. Bien.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:39:14]:

Gracias. I thank the representative of Denmark. I now give the floor to the representative of China.


China [1:39:29]:

Thank you, President. I welcome President Gustavo Petro Urrego, chairing today's meeting, and thank Secretary-General Guterres for his briefing. The Middle East, with its rich history and culture, abundant natural resources, and great development potentials, nevertheless has long been plagued by turmoil and endured the ravages of war. At present, The situation in the Middle East remains tense, posing a threat not only to regional peace and stability, but also directly impacting the global economy and energy security, and undermining the common interests of all countries. The international community should uphold a just position, pool its efforts for peace, and restore stability to the Middle East, tranquility to its people, and peace to the world at an early date. I would like to make 4 points. First, we must adhere to a political settlement and resolve disputes through peaceful means. All parties should uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, bridge differences through dialogue and consultation, and refrain from the use or threat of force. The Security Council must fulfill its primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. And take active and responsible actions to promote political settlement to hotspot issues. The situation regarding Iran is at a critical juncture between war and peace, and a resumption of hostilities serves the interests of no party. We call on all relevant parties to maintain calm and restraint, cease confrontational actions that could aggravate the conflict, and persist in resolving disputes. Through political and diplomatic means. China commends Pakistan for its mediation role and supports all parties in achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire as soon as possible, with a view to restoring peace and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf region at an early date. The situation between Lebanon and Israel should be de-escalated promptly. We welcome their recent ceasefire arrangement announcement and urge all relevant parties to immediately cease hostilities, achieve a ceasefire, and end the war. Lebanon's sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity must be respected, and Israel should withdraw completely from Lebanon. Second, we must uphold fairness and justice and maintain regional stability through the rule of law at the international level. A major reason why the hotspot issues in the Middle East have remained unresolved is that fairness and justice have not been upheld, relevant Council resolutions have not been implemented, and international law has not been respected. The authority of the Security Council and international law must be upheld. They must not be applied selectively, nor can the world be allowed to revert to the law of the jungle. The fact that the Palestinian people are unable to realize their legitimate national is the greatest injustice in today's world. The suffering of the Palestinian people must end as soon as possible. A lasting ceasefire in Gaza must be achieved and the humanitarian situation must be improved. The international community should redouble its efforts to implement the two-state solution, reject any attempt to annex Palestinian territory, and support Palestine in achieving independent statehood at an early date and its admission as a full member of the United Nations. Third, we must uphold independence and self-reliance and pursue common security through solidarity and cooperation. The Middle East has long been mired in turmoil due to its complex historical context and to the pursuit of geopolitical rivalry by external forces. The fundamental way forward for the Middle East to move from turmoil to stability lies in freeing itself from major power geopolitical rivalry upholding a spirit of independence and self-reliance, embracing a mission of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and building through inclusivity and reconciliation a regional security architecture that accommodates the legitimate concerns of all. The international community should fully respect the historical context of the Middle East and support the countries and peoples of the region in playing the leading role and advance sustainable resolution of conflicts. Syria should adhere to the principle of a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process, steadily advance an inclusive political transition, and resolutely combat terrorism. The Golan Heights is internationally recognized as occupied Syrian territory, and Israel should fully withdraw from it at an early date. The Yemen issue has remained unresolved for far too long. We call on all Yemeni parties to demonstrate political will, work towards the resumption of the peace process, and strive to achieve reconciliation as soon as possible. Fourth, we must address both the symptoms and root causes of problems and promote lasting peace and stability through development and revitalization. Security is a prerequisite for development, and development provides a foundation for security. The Middle East has long served as a geopolitical crossroads linking Asia, Africa, and Europe, and as an an energy engine for global economic growth. The international community should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with the countries in the Middle East and support their sustainable development based on their different resource endowments. Efforts should be made to help post-conflict countries with reconstruction, support recovery, and humanitarian agencies in carrying out relief operations. And promote the early economic recovery and improve livelihoods so as to create fertile ground for the seeds of peace to take root. We must take a clear stand against protectionism and unilateral actions and resolutely reject any illegal unilateral sanctions imposed outside of the frame of the Council resolutions. Disruptions to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz have affected the smooth functioning of global production and supply chains, the international trade order, and energy supply stability. The parties concerned should heed the calls of the international community, take proactive actions, and work toward the early restoration of normal transit through this international trade. We welcome the UN initiative to establish a dedicated technical mechanism to address the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and support the UN in playing a greater role. President, China has always been a builder of peace in the Middle East, a promoter of stability in the region, and a contributor to its development. We have actively worked for peace in the Middle East. President Xi Jinping solemnly put forward the Four Propositions on Safeguarding and Promoting Peace and Stability in the Middle East, providing direction for addressing the current crisis and easing regional tensions. We have actively empowered development in the Middle East by pursuing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation for shared benefit, and contributing to the region's prosperity and revitalization. China stands ready to work hand in hand with the international community Turkey and the countries in the Middle East to make greater efforts towards lasting peace and stability in the region.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:46:50]:

I thank you, President. I thank the representative of the People's Republic of China. I now give the floor to the representative of Liberia.


Liberia [1:47:07]:

Thank you. Thank you, Your Excellency. Thank you for the honor of your presence, which demonstrates the seriousness Colombia attaches to this important subject. And this subject certainly has consequences for international peace and security. We thank the Secretary-General for his insightful intervention and join in welcoming other Excellencies and distinguished colleagues to this debate. Mr. President, Liberia welcomes Colombia's stewardship of this debate not merely as a diplomatic courtesy. Colombia earned its authority on this subject through blood, had patience and the willingness to negotiate with people it had temptations not to. That is an important credential that matters in a room that is now convened to discuss mediation. We listen to President Petro today because Colombia has walked the path, paid the price, and lived to continue to build the peace. Excellencies, this year alone, Today's debate marks the 28th session this Council has convened on the crisis in the Middle East. Let's be clear: we have not failed for the lack of words. Words or good intentions. We have failed for the weakness in the architecture for building just and lasting peace, as well as the political will. To continue to strengthen and deepen it. Today, Liberia speaks from the scar tissue of our own history. We are a nation that looked into the abyss of civil war and chose negotiated peace. Over mutual annihilation. We learned at great cost that victory that is exclusive, especially militarily, is an illusion. It is merely an intermission before the next generation's vengeance that is bound to happen. That lesson is not ours alone. The pages of history is replete with it. And truthfully, it belongs to every party, to every conflict, especially the conflict in the Middle East, and certainly to every member of this Council that holds influence over them. Mr. President, Excellencies, Colombia's concept note asks the right question, not whether mediation matters, because we all know they do, but why it keeps failing and what structural conditions will allow it to succeed? Liberia offers, therefore, these three possible answers. First, mediation must become permanent and not episodic. We have seen across the conflicts, envoys arrive at moments of crisis and depart when the shooting pauses, or as the Secretary-General aptly calls it, during the period of lesser fire. What the region requires is a standing UN Dialogue Secretariat with a defined mandate, cross-conflict access, and the authority to hold all parties to their previous commitments between rounds, not only during them. Durable ceasefires, as this Concept Note rightly observes, depend on credible verification. Verification requires presence. Presence requires Permanence. Permanence builds trust. The Secretary-General should be requested to establish this mechanism within the framework of his existing Good Offices Authority, and it should be insulated from veto with regular reporting to the full membership. Second, much-needed trust must be built from the ground up and not assumed from the summit down. Macro-political frameworks collapse because they demand that parties trust each other before trust actually exists. Liberia therefore proposes a bottom-up guarantees model, drawing directly on Colombia's own peace architecture, in which the phased release of reconstruction capital, the restoration of humanitarian corridors, and the easing of economic pressures are tied explicitly to verifiable, localized de-escalation milestones monitored by states with no military relationship to either conflicting party. This model also directly addresses the food security and humanitarian access dimensions this concept note raises. When compliance unlocks reconstruction, capital corridor by corridor, civilians receive both security and sustenance as integrated outcomes of the same process. —not as separate humanitarian appeals that arrive too late. Third, the Council must address the mediation gap it has created within itself. When members of this body are parties to the conflict, directly or by proxy, The Council cannot simultaneously be its impartial mediator. Credible mediation further requires that all actors with influence over the outcome, whether state or non-state, be held to the same standard of engagement and that no party be shielded from accountability by the protective architecture of this Chamber. Where the Council is compromised by its own divisions, mediation leadership must be formally referred to the Secretary-General's good offices. That referral preserves the Council's oversight role while restoring the impartiality that mediation demands. On freedom of navigation and energy security, both imperiled by the current instability, only a sustained political process of this kind, with which— with gratitude to Pakistan can provide the durable guarantees that maritime and commercial actors require. No naval deployment substitutes for a negotiated agreement. Mr. President, peace is never an elegant formula. It is often difficult and a messy series of concessions that leave everyone truly exhausted but alive, and that is infinitely preferable law, even when imperfect, to the alternative war. This Council has spent 28 sessions, as I said in the opening of my statement, managing the architecture of war. Colombia has convened us today to begin designing something different. Bold, even daring and creative toward a just and lasting peace, not only in the Middle East, but across our world. Liberia is ready to join in the effort to build that architecture. The question is whether this Council has the will to do so. I thank you for your kind attention. Gracias.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [1:59:38]:

I thank the representative of Liberia. I thank you for your kind words to me. I now give the floor to the representative of the Republic of Somalia.


Somalia [2:00:00]:

President, allow me to begin by commending the Colombian presidency for its leadership in convening this signature event. We welcome the President of Colombia to the Council and thank him for chairing this important The initiative to place the question of mediation and long-term solutions in the Middle East at the forefront of the Council's agenda is not only welcomed but urgently needed. We are grateful for the insightful assessment provided by the Secretary-General on the path to peace in the Middle East. President, the Middle East continues for decades to be marked by recurrent conflict, longstanding occupation, and acute humanitarian crises. We share the concern that the region faces persistent violence, the erosion of civilian protection, the collapse of critical infrastructure, and widening gaps in access to food, health, and education. These crises not only destabilize the region but reverberate globally, disrupting energy markets and supply chains and undermining confidence in the multilateral system. In this context, the role of mediation, anchored in the principles of the United Nations and international law remains indispensable to address the root causes of conflict, uphold justice, and lay the foundations for durable peace and stability in the Middle East and beyond. Drawing from lessons learned, we believe three guiding principles are essential for effective mediation in the region. First, mediation must be anchored in principled impartiality, not mechanical neutrality, which distorts the reality by obscuring the fundamental roles of victim and aggressor, perpetrated through misinformation and disinformation. Nowhere is this evident than in the occupied Palestinian territory. Mediation cannot be effective in an environment of profound power asymmetry where one party is occupying power, in this case Israel, and the other, Palestine, is under occupation. A victim is not an aggressor, and an aggressor will never be a victim. This means accountability. Openly identifying Israeli violations, whether annexation, collective punishment, or man-made famine or blockade, as obstacles to peace. Mediators must be guided by fidelity to the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions, and fundamental human rights—in particular, the right of the Palestinians to live in their sovereign Palestinian state, with al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. Impartiality must mean fairness to the process of justice not equidistance between power and powerlessness. Second, mediators must actively address the structural power imbalances by ensuring clarity, appropriate sequencing, accountability, and robust monitoring and verification mechanisms. Mediation cannot be effective if the obligations and expectations of each party are vague or ambiguous. In the context of Lebanon and Syria, clear and sequenced commitments where progress on sensitive issues is linked to verifiable actions are crucial to building trust and sustaining momentum. This approach must be complemented by independent monitoring, transparent reporting, and impartial verification so that all parties are held to account at every stage, including the full implementation of Resolution 1701 and the 1974 disengagement agreement. Israel must withdraw immediately and unconditionally from occupied territories in Syria and Lebanon. Without such commitment and clarity in sequencing and oversight, mediation risks entrenching the status quo or allowing backsliding rather than delivering justice and sustainable peace. Third, mediation must strive for comprehensive end-of-conflict solutions. Incremental or step-by-step approaches have too often allowed the root causes of conflict and longstanding occupation to deepen. Only holistic, binding agreements that address that address the full spectrum of issues—territory, governance, security, rights—can prevent the ongoing fragmentation and suffering that persists through piecemeal arrangements. Comprehensive frameworks are essential to achieving just and lasting peace in the Middle East. In that context, we welcome all efforts all mediators, including Pakistan, in de-escalation and guaranteeing the freedom of navigation and ceasefire in the Middle East. And we call for redoubling all efforts in good faith dialogue and the peaceful settlement of disputes between all parties in accordance with the UN Charter other and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. To conclude, Mr. President, in reaffirming the centrality of the United Nations, the universal application of its Charter, and the importance of principled, inclusive, and accountable mediation, we set a clear path for the resolution of conflict and the restoration of hope in the elusive peace in the Middle East. It's our responsibility to ensure that our efforts are guided by clarity, impartiality, and a steadfast commitment to justice anchored in the UN Charter, so that mediation does not merely manage disputes but transform them into opportunities for reconciliation lasting peace and stability. As we act with resolve and unity, let us be guided by the wisdom of Africa: Peace is costly, but it's worth the expense. Our delegation is committed to the investment in good faith mediation, robust oversight, and principled impartiality which will yield dividends not only for the peoples of the region, but for the security and dignity of the world. I thank you, Mr.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:08:17]:

President. Gracias. I thank the representative of Somalia. I now give the floor to the Representative of Greece, you have the floor,


Greece [2:08:32]:

Madam President. I wish to welcome to the Council— well, indeed, welcome you to the Council today.

And we welcome the Secretary-General's insightful assessment. The persistence of conflict across the Middle East serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need to advance credible political solutions through dialogue, mediation, and diplomacy. Ongoing conflicts, humanitarian crisis, and rising regional tensions continue to inflict immense suffering on civilians. And let's not forget the devastating effects they have on our children. Their consequences are increasingly felt beyond the region, affecting trade, energy security, security and economic stability. In this regard, we reaffirm our strong support for the efforts of the United Nations together with regional partners to reduce tensions and promote negotiated solutions. Effective mediation requires sustained political commitment from the concerned parties, regional support, and coordinated international engagement. Mr. President, Greece's vision for the Middle East is one anchored in peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, and regional cooperation free from the scourge of terrorism or the threat of nuclear weapons. When not overshadowed by the specter of nuclear weapons, but instead placed at the service of humanity, nuclear technology energy can illuminate homes, advance medicine, strengthen food security, and drive innovation. Its promise, however, must remain firmly anchored in the principles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the safeguards of IAEA, and the broader framework that underpins international confidence and security. Against this backdrop, Iran carries a particular responsibility. Confidence cannot be built on ambiguity. It requires openness, transparency, and sustained, verifiable cooperation with the agency. The objective of diplomacy, however, should be more ambitious than merely avoiding proliferation. It should help create the conditions for a Middle East in which Iran, alongside its neighbors, contributes to a future shaped by cooperation, economic opportunity, and shared security rather than recurring cycles of confrontation. Perhaps most importantly, the vision of Middle East at peace starts with Israel and Palestine. Greece has consistently called for the implementation of the two-state solution. Israel and a sovereign, viable Palestinian state must finally be able to live side by side in peace, security, and mutual recognition in accordance with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions. Gaza must never again be allowed to serve as a platform for terrorism, including by Hamas. Settler violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank are unacceptable and must cease immediately. Last but not least, the preservation and the respect of the status quo of the holy sites in East Jerusalem remains of paramount importance. Imagine a Lebanon Lebanon, which is fully relieved of the destabilizing threat posed by Hezbollah and other non-state armed actors, with the authority of, of its state restored across its entire territory. At the same time, Israel must refrain from further military operations and territorial incursions into Lebanese territory. which risk escalating tensions and undermining prospects for a durable political solution. The full implementation of the cessation of hostilities arrangements, the continuation of bilateral talks, and the strengthening of the LAF and other state institutions is essential. In Syria, a path towards stability, security, and prosperity can only emerge through a genuinely inclusive political process in line with Resolution 2254. Our vision involves a Syria which is united and sovereign, whose territorial integrity is intact. A country where all Syrians, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, can participate in shaping their future. In conclusion, Mr. President, mediation and dialogue remain the only pathways for achieving durable political solutions. Our collective efforts must be guided by a shared and unwavering vision of a Middle East where sovereign states coexist peacefully, terrorist organizations no longer undermine security and stability, disputes are resolved through diplomacy rather than force, and future generations can live in security, dignity, and prosperity. The Security Council, but also the wider international community, share a common responsibility in advancing dialogue, reinforcing mediation efforts, and shaping a future defined by peace, stability, and cooperation. And let's be clear, all these necessary efforts will only bear fruits when based on international law, the UN Charter, and the relevant Security Council resolutions that continue to be our only compass in this journey through rough waters. Time is of essence. I thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:15:05]:

Gracias. I thank you, Representative of Greece. I now give the floor to the Representative of the United States.


United States of America [2:15:19]:

I thank the Secretary-General for his briefing. To begin, the United States condemns any antisemitic rhetoric and any comments that reduce the atrocities of of the Holocaust. Colleagues, these conflicts in the Middle East demand real solutions and political capital, not recycled failed approaches. The United States, under President Trump, has brought a new approach to the region, both in our own efforts and in the Security Council. It is this action-based approach that has achieved real results. The lesson is clear. Debates, discussions, and mediation can lead to success, provided they are tied to concrete political arrangements and sustained international commitment. In Gaza, this council moved beyond rhetoric and endorsed a comprehensive political framework aimed at ending the conflict with its historic Resolution 2803, endorsing President Trump's President Trump's comprehensive peace plan. That framework has facilitated humanitarian assistance, secured the release of all hostages held by Hamas, Hamas, and their remains, and established a realistic pathway towards long-term stability through the Board of Peace and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. In Lebanon, President Trump's leadership brokered historic talks between the government of Israel and Lebanon On Lebanon, durable peace requires that sovereign governments, not terrorist proxies, exercise control over their territory. Israel and Lebanon announced a ceasefire on June 3rd. We look forward to that agreement's full implementation and continued negotiations toward a more comprehensive peace agreement. On Syria, following President Trump's historic decision to lift U.S. sanctions on Syria, This council first delisted Syrian President al-Assad and then HTS from the 1267 ISIL and al-Qaeda sanctions regime. Our bold actions recognize Syria's transition to a new chapter. We have bolstered the Syrian government's efforts to reintegrate with the international community, counter terrorism and drug trafficking, eliminate the remnants of chemical weapons, and secure much-needed foreign humanitarian aid and development assistance for the benefit of the Syrian people. The United States is committed to lasting peace in Syria, both internally and with its neighbors. Special Presidential Envoy for Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack continues to support engagement among the parties and between Syria and Israel. And on Iran, the international community has demonstrated that diplomacy and accountability go hand in hand. The Security Council sanctions architecture and snapback mechanism were created precisely because dialogue without consequences failed to prevent destabilizing behavior. Effective diplomacy requires leverage, credibility, and enforcement. We must recognize a simple truth. Throughout the region, many conflicts are fueled by the malign behavior of a single actor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, with political and financial support from certain members of this council. Iran is holding the world's economy hostage by unlawfully attempting to restrict freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. It continues to back the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and militias in Iraq. Iran's nuclear program has threatened peace and security security for years. The United States once again condemns in the strongest terms possible that Iran's outrageous and unacceptable attacks against its neighboring countries must stop. Russia and China have continued to shield Iran and prevent this council from fulfilling its founding purpose of maintaining international peace and security. Vetoing a draft resolution in April that would have authorized action to secure transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Across the region, the challenge before this council is not choosing between dialogue and action. It is ensuring that dialogue produces action. The United States remains committed to practical diplomacy that reduces conflict, protects civilians, strengthens legitimate institutions, and advances a more stable and peaceful Middle East. We urge all member states to join us in working towards that goal.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:19:56]:

Thank you. I thank the representative of the United States. As a brief reply, by way of brief reply, no one here is seeking to diminish— and this is a statement I'm making as the President of the Republic of Colombia, not as President of the Security Council— No, as things stand, no one is attempting to diminish the atrocities of the Holocaust. That's exactly why I talked about the important role played by the United States, the European Union, the European nations, and the role played by millions of Europeans All of these parties together destroyed Nazism. Don't take words out of my mouth. What I'm doing is ensuring that the Second World War, the Holocaust, which gave rise to this institution to guard against those horrors, I'm trying to ensure that there is no now Holocaust. At the cost of the people of the Third World. That's what I'm warning against, and that's what I'm trying to prevent. Now, my second point— of course, we champion the dialogue between civilizations. I applauded the efforts of President Trump in Gaza. Finally. But what's happening is we're seeing a failure. And I hope you take note of what I'm about to say. Dialogue between civilizations does not involve eliminating a civilization. There is no such thing as malign civilizations, wicked civilizations. The discussion between good and evil that I translate into terms of life energies or dark energies waging a struggle against life, wars being waged against our humanity and beyond. What I'm saying is civilizations all need to come together and engage in dialogue. There can be no chosen people of God. That's a monotheistic tenet. Rather, all of humankind are chosen by God. That discussion's been held since time immemorial, and we've had giants discussing different tenets and this belief that there's a chosen people is what's perhaps brought us to war, but we need to sit down. There's no such thing, like I said, as a wicked civilization. Everyone is part of the people of God. We need to sit down and talk together. There's this nuclear risk that's been hovering over us for decades, for decades. For decades ago in this organization, steps were taken to gradually eliminate nuclear weapons and that's still a process going on. Those that have— there's not really a discussion to be had about who should have nuclear weapons and who shouldn't. No one should have them. What's happening is those with money are subjugating those those that don't in a non-democratic way with their nuclear weapons. And this whole thesis can be applied to what's happening in the Middle East today. And we need negotiations. If you demand that one nation doesn't have nuclear weapons, well, that's all well and good, but no one should have nuclear weapons. It shouldn't be a prohibition placed on one nation. This construction of two states, Israel and a free Palestine, They should be sovereign states, both of them, and that their civilizations should be respected, and the Palestinian civilization shouldn't be rooted out to build peace. The Israeli people also built a civilization, and both civilizations are crucial and should be protected. And that's why I believe that in Latin America, we don't use missiles, we don't attack boats, as happened in Colombia. Caracas, of course, has been the victim of missiles. In fact, I think the first that was dropped on us was in Caracas. We're not talking about missiles. We should talk about dialogue. Civilizations should talk to each other and should not be exterminated or annihilated. And that's what I talked about personally with Donald Trump— a pact for freedom, life, and democracy. Freedom is the watchword that should govern and does govern all American peoples. There was my reply by way of aside. I now continue with the speakers list and give the floor to the representative of Bahrain. Bahrain. I don't think anyone should be impeded, incidentally, from taking the floor. Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain— no one should be led to a state of gridlock for a war in— because of a war in the Gulf. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela— because that causes violence between the peoples. Everyone should be free. Bahrain, you have the floor. Hello.


Bahrain [2:25:51]:

I say the right— Thank you, Mr. President. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset, I'm honored to welcome His Excellency President Gustavo Petro, President of the Friendly Republic of Colombia. We extend our sincere thanks to Colombia for convening this high-level open debate at a time of great sensitivity and complexity. Reunderscore the importance of mediation and dialogue for lasting peace. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to His Excellency the Secretary-General, and I thank him for his valuable briefing. Mr. President, the Kingdom of Bahrain, under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the Kingdom of Bahrain—may God protect him—and guided by His Royal Highness His Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, may God protect him. The Kingdom of Bahrain reaffirms its firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Foremost among them is the peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for the sovereignty of states, and the promotion of political dialogue as the optimal path to the achievement of security, stability, and sustainable development regionally and internationally. This also includes support for mediation efforts and confidence-building among conflicting parties through the promotion of dialogue and diplomatic solutions. Issues in the Middle East, especially the Palestinian cause, remain at the forefront of the Security Council's priorities. The region faces complex and interlinked challenges that require strengthening preventive mediation mechanisms and multilateral diplomacy in order to address the root causes of conflict, prevent their escalation, and end conflict to achieve sustainable peace. The Kingdom of Bahrain reaffirms its unwavering support for the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, particularly their right to self-determination and the right to establish their independent sovereign state on the borders of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with Arab Peace Initiative and relevant international resolutions. The Kingdom of Bahrain renews its affirmation of the legal centrality of UN Resolution 2803, adopted in 2022. 2025, in seeking to achieve peace in the Gaza Strip. We also note the esteemed participation of His Majesty the King, may God protect him, in the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., under the chairmanship of His Excellency U.S. President Donald Trump. This participation reflects the Kingdom of Bahrain's steadfast commitment commitment to dialogue and preventive diplomacy. It embodies the comprehensive royal vision of coexistence and tolerance from which emerged the initiatives of the 33rd Arab Summit under His Majesty's presidency to support the right of the brotherly Palestinian people to establish their independent state alongside the Kingdom's continued provision of educational and medical support to those affected. Mr. President, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Hashemite Kingdom continue to be the subject of unlawful attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which uses ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in highly premeditated operations that are highly accurate, targeting infrastructure, vital facilities, residential areas, diplomatic premises, airports, energy facilities, factories, and universities. These attacks have caused major losses in life and in material property, reflecting the aggressive Iranian intentions towards our peaceful nations. However, the efficiency and readiness of the armed forces and air defense systems have allowed us to confront these attacks with a high level of professionalism and has contributed to neutralizing the threat and mitigating its effect and protecting lives, facilities, and vital capacities. United Nations The United Nations Security Council Resolution 2817, submitted by the Kingdom of Bahrain and co-sponsored by 136 member states, considered the most widely supported resolution, the most widely sponsored resolution in the Security Council, and the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution of the 25th of March, 2026, which was adopted unanimously with the sponsorship of 115 member states, reflect a firm international position condemning these unjustified attacks and emphasizing the necessity of protecting civilians, civilian infrastructure, and ensuring the freedom of navigation. The consequences of Iranian attacks and practices extend beyond the borders of the targeted— to affect the security and stability of the entire region. They impact international security, energy markets, the global economy, freedom of international navigation, and supply chains. This is a dangerous precedent and a blatant violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In this context, and in light of the importance of mediation and dialogue in de-escalation and in creating conditions conducive to political solutions. The Kingdom of Bahrain expressed its appreciation for the efforts of the Brotherly Islamic Republic of Pakistan to reach a peace agreement that ends the war in the region and reopens the Strait of Hormuz to international navigation. The Kingdom of Bahrain calls for continuing this vital process in a manner that would ensure that all core issues are addressed. Achieving regional security requires a coordinated collective effort to establish peace in Gaza, in Yemen, in the Sudan, in Libya, and Lebanon, and to support the paths of stability and development in Syria and in Iraq. This requires a comprehensive approach in dealing with pivotal issues. Foremost among them is the nuclear program and Iran's missile capabilities, and to put an end to the support given to armed militias in Arab states, thus providing our peoples with a genuine opportunity for constructive coexistence. In this regard, the King of Bahrain commends the intensive efforts undertaken by the United States of America within the framework of mediation and diplomatic initiatives that aim at stabilizing the situation and preventing the expansion of conflict in the Lebanese Republic. We affirm our support for the negotiations ongoing between the Lebanese Republic and the State of Israel. We express our hope that it would achieve tangible results that contribute towards enhancing security and stability and towards respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon. In closing, we wish to reaffirm that the safety of international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is not an isolated regional issue. Rather, it is a collective— a binding collective responsibility and a fundamental pillar of stability in regional trade and the security of energy, food, and medicine. Keeping this vital passage open and secure is a legal obligation mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and resolutions of the Security Council. It remains a key safeguard for protecting global economy from shocks. I thank you all for your kind attention, and peace and God's blessings be upon you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:34:36]:

Thank you, distinguished representative of Bahrain. You are one of the elected members of the council. I don't know if there are any left to take the floor. Yes, now I give the floor to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But before I do that, actually, I would briefly wish to touch on words from— some words that were spoken earlier in the story of the Bible. Here I'm talking about the— as the representative of Colombia. Now, Shem appeared in the Bible and was a haven for all of the people in the Middle East— the peoples in the Middle East, almost all of them if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure. I'd like you to correct me if I do need to be corrected. The age-old civil— the Persian civilization was in that region. It was given a haven by Shem, as were the Arab people, including the Palestinians. The Jewish people also enjoyed that haven. That is, the Jewish people that live lived in Judea and spoke Aramaic. Of course, there was Jesus also, and he enjoyed that haven. So they're all Semitic. And so when I talk about putting an end to war or genocide in Gaza, they're all Semites. As we've requested as a republic, we've asked for those responsible to be tried in international bodies before international courts, and that act was not antisemitic. We're defending Gaza, the Palestinian people, their freedom. That's not antisemitic. That has to be corrected. There's an international treaty that misuses terms, misuses the term Semite, Semitic, Jews, Muslims, people of other beliefs. There's the Sabastrans. Also, they're all Semitic peoples. That needs to be understood. Now, I can give the floor to the representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


Democratic Republic of the Congo [2:37:01]:

Thank you, Mr.

President. My delegation pays its respectful homage to His Excellency, Mr. Gustavo Petro, President of the Republic of of Colombia and expresses his gratitude to him for the honor he has kindly bestowed on the Council by enhancing today's deliberations with his presence and by assuming the presidency of our debate. The Democratic Republic of the Congo thanks the sister Republic of Colombia for organizing this open debate, which underscores the promotion of political solutions in the Middle East. My delegation values the benefits of such initiative. It provides the Council with a relevant framework for reflection with a view to consolidating our collective efforts to achieve lasting peace in this strategic region of the world. The presence this morning with us of the Secretary-General and his briefing just now also also testify to his determination to work tirelessly for peace and security in the world. Mr. President, the evolution of the security and humanitarian situation in the Middle East remains a source of concern for my country. In addition to posing a serious threat to regional stability and international peace and security, The violence in the region is a daily reminder of the considerable human cost that can be generated by the absence of a lasting political settlement. Civilian populations continue to pay a heavy price, while the repercussions of these crises are felt well beyond their immediate scope through, in particular, the various disruptions within supply chains, energy markets, and food security. Through— these are the issues that directly affect many states, including those on the African continent, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mr. President, it is precisely in this context that lasting political solutions based on inclusive dialogue, mediation, and preventive diplomacy take on their full importance. Political solutions are— remain the only credible path to lasting peace where military responses fail to resolve crises deeply rooted in complex historic, political, and social dynamics. And in this regard, we commend the efforts of the Secretary-General, his special envoys, and regional organizations, as well as partner states engaged in the search for peaceful solutions to conflicts in the region. The Democratic Republic of the Congo recalls that the ultimate objective of any political resolution and mediation remains a preservation of human lives and the restoration of conditions conducive to peaceful coexistence. Indeed, the protection of civilians must must remain at the heart of any international response. We therefore strongly condemn attacks on civilian populations and critical infrastructure, as well as, uh, obstructions to humanitarian access. We further emphasize that it's imperative to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian relief and medical personnel in accordance with the principles of international humanitarian law while mobilizing the necessary resources to meet growing humanitarian needs. Mr. President, the African experience teaches us quite clearly that inclusive, context-sensitive, nationally owned, and youth-oriented mediation Processes are essential to achieving lasting peace. These processes must, uh, in addition, be shored up by lasting ceasefires supported by clear political commitments, international guarantees, and credible follow-up mechanisms. In this context, we call on the Security Council to first strengthen the coherence and complementarity amongst to boost existing mediation initiatives, including the efforts of the United Nations regional organization and states' efforts. Secondly, to promote inclusive dialogues fully involving women, the youth, and civil society. Third, to ensure the effective implementation of the mechanisms under Chapter 6 of the United Nations Charter in accordance with Resolution 2788 of the Council, and finally to help mitigate the impacts of conflict on global food security, supply chains, and the freedom of navigation. The Democratic Republic of the Congo insists on the need to learn from the lessons of the past in order to strengthen mediation approaches that are more flexible, inclusive, and better adapted to historical and cultural realities specific to each context. And in conclusion, my country reaffirms its commitment to multilateralism and calls for a renewed commitment to dialogue and mediation. It is our collective responsibility to advance credible and lasting political solutions in the Middle East in the interests of international peace and security. I thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:43:02]:

Bien, gracias. I warmly thank the representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We now move to a second phase of our discussions. We move to non-members of the Council that wish to take the floor. So with that, I give the floor— we've talked about you— I give the floor to Her Excellency Ms. Emma Higgins, Minister of State for Disability. She is at the meeting and she has the floor.


Ireland · Minister of State for Disability · Emma Higgins [2:43:38]:

Mr. President, I've come here today to address the serious and the grave situation across across the Middle East. However, given that it has been raised here in this chamber, the UN Security Council chamber, I will also address the situation in Belfast. On behalf of the Government of Ireland, I utterly condemn the absolutely shocking attack on a young man in Belfast on Monday. My thoughts are with him, his family, and his wider community. I also utterly condemn the violence that followed on the streets in Belfast. The unacceptable behaviour, the criminal behaviour, and the vigilante behaviour. Mr. President, one of the lessons that we have learned from the Northern Ireland peace process, which we worked on in collaboration with the UK and with the support of the United States, is the importance of calm political leadership. And the importance of using our words responsibly. It is incumbent on all of us here to be mindful of that and to be mindful of our words and the impact they have. And it's incumbent on all of us to unite in defense of human dignity and the rule of law. Turning to the topic of today's debate, Ireland aligns with the statement of the European Union and the statement delivered by Kuwait on behalf of members of the Core Group of Shared Commitments on UNRWA. Mr. President, as entrenched conflicts in the Middle East region endure, new fronts emerge, we must urgently advance efforts that address the root cause of these conflicts. The rules-based international order, the multilateral system with the UN Charter at its heart, and the international human rights system are our greatest assets, our greatest assets in addressing the drivers of conflict and achieving and sustaining peace. We acknowledge the vital role played by mediators, played by regional actors and international partners who work to create space for dialogue, for de-escalation, for sustainable peace. Mr. President, we remain deeply concerned about the dire situation in Palestine. As we meet here today, Palestinians are enduring unconscionable suffering. We have seen the destruction of homes, the destruction of hospitals, the destruction of lives. Humanitarian access continues to be obstructed in Gaza. The Palestinian economy continues to be stifled. Tax revenues continue to be withheld from the Palestinian Authority. And we call on Israel to immediately remove restrictions on aid access and to facilitate essential supplies and services unimpeded and at scale across the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, we see its territorial integrity being eroded by ever-increasing settlement expansion. And regrettably, these are the direct consequences of decisions by the current Israeli government. The exponential increase in settler violence Violence against Palestinians, which continues in an atmosphere of impunity, is deeply disturbing. Accountability for settler violence, including fatal violence, is gravely deficient. Over 96% of incidents of settler violence never lead to prosecution. That's according to the human rights organization Yesh Din. In Gaza, we remain ready to work with the US and other partners on the implementation of the comprehensive peace plan in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 2803 and other relevant resolutions. Since the ceasefire was announced in October 2025, Israeli forces have continued to expand their control of Palestinian territory in Gaza. That was not part of the plan. It is important that that any new governance structures in Gaza, including the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, are transitional and have clear linkages with the Palestinian Authority, maintaining the connection between Gaza and the West Bank. Ireland's longstanding position is that the EU-Israel Association Agreement should be suspended. It has been demonstrated here at the UN that there is wide, wide support for a peace plan for Gaza. There's also clear support for the two-state solution, notably as demonstrated in the New York Declaration and at the meeting of the Global Alliance for the Two-State Solution. Why? Because for decades we have known that the two-state solution offers the only viable path to ensure lasting peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians. We remain committed committed to supporting this objective, as set out in numerous resolutions of the Council. Mr. President, the ongoing conflict in Lebanon is setting back hard-won progress. Ireland has condemned Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and Israel's disproportionate response. Both must stop. The intensity of Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the ceasefire puts any prospect of a sustainable and a meaningful peace with Lebanon Lebanon in jeopardy. In the interest of enduring peace and security, including its own, we call on Israel to withdraw from Lebanon. We grieve the death and the injury of UNIFIL peacekeepers, and we condemn all attacks against UNIFIL personnel. Such attacks are unacceptable, and we call for accountability. We renew our condolences to Indonesia, to France, and to Serbia, and we support a continued peacekeeping presence in Lebanon post-UNIFIL, as proposed by the UN Secretary-General in his recent letter. Turning to the crisis in the Gulf, the recent resumption of conflict between Iran and Israel is deeply concerning, and we hope that dialogue and diplomacy can lead to a negotiated outcome that will bring to an end the conflict in the Gulf, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping, and to address the range of regional security issues. But above all else, civilians must be protected. We urge all sides to exercise maximum restraint. We urge those with influence to use it constructively and to support diplomatic efforts underway to reach a lasting outcome. Thank you, Mr. President.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:50:15]:

Thank you to the representative of Ireland. We now continue with— do excuse my pronunciation— we continue with Her Excellency Ms. Ute Holopainen, the Undersecretary of State for Finland.


Finland · Undersecretary of State · Ute Holopainen [2:50:33]:

President, we thank the Colombian presidency for convening this important debate. The need for dialogue and mediation in the Middle East is is urgent. Conflicts in the Middle East have caused immeasurable suffering to millions. Innocent civilians continue to bear the brunt of violence, evident in the ongoing crisis in the occupied Palestinian Territory, Lebanon, and Yemen, among others. The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Lebanon and Israel gives renewed hope for lasting peace and security. We commend the— United States' role in this regard and call for the direct negotiations to continue. We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, fully respect the ceasefire, avoid escalation, and ensure the protection of civilians. Hezbollah must halt its attacks and Israel must respect Lebanon's sovereignty. We all know how peace can be fragile. International law, including the UN Charter and international humanitarian law, is the true foundation for lasting peace. And yet, the United Nations itself is targeted in multiple ways, also in the Middle East. Recently, we mourned the death of the 7th UNIFIL peacekeeper in Lebanon this spring due to mortar fire. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, UNIFIL community. Attacks on UN peacekeepers are serious violations of international humanitarian law. We must ensure the safety and security of UN personnel at all times. President, Your Excellencies, amid these challenges, we reaffirm our commitment to advancing a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the two-state solution. Achieving this requires genuine dialogue, mutual recognition, and the political will to find solutions. The New York— New York Declaration provides a stepping stone for initiating this much-needed dialogue. We encourage the Security Council to endorse it and support efforts aimed at facilitating peace talks. Talks. President Finland has consistently advocated for inclusive dialogue that encompasses diverse voices from the region and from the local level. We need sustainable solutions that reflect the aspirations and needs of whole communities affected by the conflicts. In conclusion, let us remind that— remain steadfast in our pursuit of peace. Dialogue is vital for transforming the current landscape of conflict into one of hope and cooperation. Together, we can build a future where all people in the Middle East can thrive in safety and dignity. I thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:53:33]:

Gracias, señora.

I thank the representative of Finland. We now continue with our speakers list with Mr. Kyung-Chul Lee Special Representative for Middle East Peace of the Republic of Korea.


Republic of Korea · Special Representative for Middle East Peace · Kyung-Chul Lee [2:53:48]:

Thank you, Mr. President. We greatly appreciate the initiative by the Colombian presidency of the Security Council in organizing this most timely debate. The recent situation in the Middle East, marked by armed conflict and military tension, has had far-reaching ramifications that extend well beyond the region to impact the the entire world. It is all the more worrying that the most vulnerable links in the global chain of relations are being hit the hardest. Furthermore, we must confront the newly emerging reality of the dynamics that the digital-based advanced economies are neither self-reliant nor immune to supply disruptions of the traditional foundational sectors of the global economy, such as petroleum maritime and shipping. These developments remind us of the indispensable value of the principle of the Pacific settlement of disputes as stipulated in Chapter VI of the UN Charter and reaffirmed by relevant UN Security Council resolutions, most recently Resolution 2788 of July last year. And perhaps they have not been utilized as fully as they should have which can be largely explained by the geopolitical challenges of unprecedented intensity in recent years. Focusing on the Middle East, the Security Council has been able to deliver such significant results as Resolution 2803 on Gaza and Resolution 2817 on the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, even in the midst of the challenging atmosphere. Although not While not without imperfections, these texts essentially serve as authoritative rules and norms by which each party is expected to be bound. And it is meaningful that they are also the culmination of active mediation efforts by key countries concerned. Prioritizing civilian protection is critical to prevent escalating conflict. Conflicts. In this regard, the Government of the Republic of Korea expresses its deep concern, particularly over the civilian casualties caused by the recent conflict in the Middle East, and reiterates our calls for strict compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law. Moreover, given the potential risk of food shortages caused by conflict-related trade disruptions, we emphasize the need to maintain freedom of navigation and stable supply chains. Recognizing the international community shares the same concerns, we underscore the need for continued messaging within the UN framework, as it reflects the collective will of member states. It should also be noted that mediation and dialogue, while essential, work best when a firm and united Security Council serves as a backstop, ready to act if the need arises. Although member states may have different visions and approaches to peace in the Middle East, we share the ultimate goal of sustainable peace. Considering that lasting peace eventually advances our respective national peace and security, we should engage constructively in efforts to identify the best solutions and facilitate facilitate their implementation. Despite sharing the same goal, the fundamental reason we repeatedly face difficulties in resolving conflicts is a lack of trust. In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to the SHINE Initiative, which stands for Stability, Harmony, Innovation, Network, and Education. Last November, the Korean government announced this comprehensive vision for engagement with the Middle aimed at building trust and contributing for lasting peace and shared prosperity across the region. The core message of the Shine Initiative is simple. It calls on countries to build trust by invigorating exchanges and dialogue in order to harmoniously pursue stability. Mr. President, no doubt the United Nations plays an irreplaceable role in international peace peace and security efforts. We also acknowledge the critical work of the Secretary-General in bringing conflicts to the attention of the Security Council, appointing special envoys for specific issues and expressing the UN's positions to the international community. The valuable endeavors of the UN and the Secretary-General in this regard deserve full support from all Member States. Thank you.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [2:58:32]:

I thank the representative of the Republic of Korea. We now give the floor to the representative of Saudi Arabia.


Saudi Arabia · Arab Group [2:58:48]:

Shukran, I thank you, Mr. President. I'm honored to deliver the statement on behalf of the Arab Group. At the outset, we would like to welcome Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Colombia, and as you preside over our meeting today. And we thank the Republic of Colombia for organizing this important session at a highly sensitive time for the Middle East region, a region which continues to face intertwined security, political, and humanitarian humanitarian challenges that underscore the urgent need to strengthen the role of mediation, dialogue, and preventive diplomacy in maintaining international peace and security. The Arab Group affirms its firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and to the fundamental principles of the international order, foremost amongst which are respect for the sovereignty of states and their territorial integrity, non-interference in their internal affairs, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, and refraining from the threat or use of force. Allow me to mention the following points. First, our Arab region has recently witnessed a dangerous escalation and hostile acts that have threatened international— regional security and stability, including Iranian attacks and assaults that have targeted a number of the Gulf Arab states and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which is a violation of the principles of good neighborliness, international law, and the Charter of the United Nations. The Arab Group reaffirms its rejection of any acts whose effect would be to undermine the security of states, threaten their stability, or expose their peoples and capabilities to danger. The Arab Group also emphasizes the importance of of protecting vital civilian infrastructure and ensuring security of international maritime routes and the freedom of navigation and global trade. This includes the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and other strategic waterways in the region, given their vital importance to the global economy, energy security, and international supply chains. Second, the Arab Group commends the international efforts efforts aimed at reviving the political process and achieving peace. We stress the importance of building upon the international momentum embodied in Security Council Resolution 2817, which was co-sponsored and supported by 136 states. This resolution is a clear indication of the international will that supports political solutions and the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions. Here, the Arab Group welcomes the ongoing diplomatic efforts that are aimed at reducing tensions in the region and in a way that would contribute to strengthening regional security and stability. The Arab Group values the efforts undertaken by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in supporting dialogue and encouraging diplomatic solutions. Third, the Arab Group affirms that the Palestinian cause will remain the central issue of the Arab world and that achieving a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East remains contingent upon ending the Israeli occupation and enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and to establish their independent sovereign state on the lines of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as their capital in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. The Arab Group rejects all policies aimed at altering the demographic composition and character of the occupied Palestinian territories that have been occupied since 1967, including, among other things, the construction and expansion of settlements, settlements, the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, which is a violation, a clear violation of Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2334. We warn of the continued attacks on the legal and historic status quo in Jerusalem, particularly with regard to the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al Haram al-Sharif. In Gaza, the Arab Group affirms that the expanding Israeli military control and the ongoing attacks and the deliberate restrictions on humanitarian access have all created a grave and intolerable humanitarian emergency. Civilians continue to suffer from the policies that deprive them of protection and basic services and the most basic necessities of life. Life. In this regard, we stress the need to fully respect the principles reflected in Resolution 2803, including respect for the ceasefire, humanitarian access, non-occupation, non-annexation, and the non-displacement of the Palestinian people. We note that the ceasefire agreement that was achieved thanks to the intensive mediation efforts made by the Arab Republic of Egypt, the State of Qatar, and the United States of America, and the Republic of Turkey. This ceasefire agreement demonstrates the importance of mediation efforts in strengthening political solutions in the Middle East and mediation for peace. Fourth, the ongoing and prolonged crises in the Arab region confirm that the challenges facing the region cannot be addressed separately or through military solutions. Rather, addressing them requires a coordinated collective effort that is based on dialogue, mediation, respect for international law, and addressing the root causes of conflict. The Arab Group condemns the continued Israeli aggression against the sisterly Republic of Lebanon. We reiterate our complete rejection of any targeting of Lebanon's sovereignty and Army. our We express our sincere condolences and sympathy to the victims and their families and to the government and people of Brotherly Lebanon following the death of Lebanese Army officers while carrying out their national duty. The Arab Group renews its absolute rejection of the targeting of a temporary position belonging— of a position belonging to the UNIFIL in southern Lebanon, which resulted in the death of one soldier and the injury of others. The Arab Group calls for intensifying international efforts aimed at ending conflict, protecting civilians, ensuring the unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid, and supporting comprehensive political processes that lead to peace, stability, and sustainable development for the peoples of the region. We support the mediation efforts undertaken by the United States of America to de-escalate, and we welcome the initiative that was launched by the President of Lebanon and the negotiations that aim to put an end to hostilities and an end to the Israeli occupation. The Arab Group condemns in the strongest of terms all Israeli incursions and repeated attacks against the territories of the Syrian Arab Republic. We consider them a flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity. They run counter to the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, and they are a threat to Syria's security, stability, and they threaten peace and security in the region as a whole. The Arab Group stresses the need for Israel to comply fully with the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. We demand an end to Israel's repeated violations, and we call for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal from the Syrian territories into which Israel has recently advanced, as well as from the occupied Syrian Golan. Fifth, the challenges facing our region impose upon the international community a shared responsibility, a responsibility to promote a culture of dialogue, cooperation, and confidence-building. Experience has demonstrated that lasting peace is not achieved through force, rather through genuine political will, a commitment to diplomacy and mediation, and respect for international law. In closing, the Arab Group renews its commitment commitment to work with the United Nations and all international and regional partners to strengthen international peace and security, to support political solutions to conflicts, and to build a Middle East that enjoys security, stability, development, and prosperity. I thank you, Mr. President.


Colombia · President of the Republic of Colombia · Gustavo Petro Urrego [3:07:40]:

Gracias. I thank the representative of Saudi Arabia. We have a number of speakers left to hear. With the indulgence of members of the Council, I will now suspend this meeting until 3:00 PM this afternoon. The meeting is suspended and we resume our work at 3:00 PM.