It would be a catastrophe to have any escalation in the Gulf region: Guterres

It would be a catastrophe to have any escalation in the Gulf region: Guterres

New Delhi, June 25 (HS): In the wake of Iran and United States trade diplomatic blows in New York, United Nations Security Council has urged both the nations to exercise ‘maximum restraint’ around the Gulf region.

According to UN’s Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “has made clear his concerns, both about the recent incidents and also the rhetoric from various quarters. He’s made it clear that it would be a catastrophe to have any escalation in the Gulf region. He has urged all sides to show nerves of steel, and he is continuing to maintain that, and he wants to make sure that they take steps to avoid any further sorts of provocation.”

It may be recalled that a closed-door meeting was held in the Security Council chamber in New York yesterday to discuss the deteriorating relations between the United States, and Iran, which has also ratcheted up tension with Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia, and its allies.

However, after the closed-door talks, Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi of Kuwait, which holds the Council’s presidency for the month of June, read out an informal statement on behalf of the 15-member body condemning the attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf, saying they represented a “serious threat to maritime navigation and energy supply” as well as being a threat to international peace and security.

“The Council members urge concerned parties and all countries in the region to exercise maximum restraint and take measures and actions to reduce escalation and end tension,” he said.

The statement called for differences to be addressed “peacefully and through dialogue”.

Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi, who called on Secretary-General António Guterres “to play a role” in bringing countries to the table has tried to make his country’s stand clear that Iran wants “neither war, nor an escalation of tension” in the region.

According to media reports, he has said that US decision to impose more sanctions against Iran is yet another indication of continued US hostility against the Iranian people and their leaders. To ease tensions in the broader Persian Gulf region, the US must stop its military adventurism in our region, as well as its economic war.

However, US officials have said that Iran was responsible for two separate incidents in recent weeks, around the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, involving six oil tankers which were damaged. Iran has categorically denied any involvement.

Last week, an unmanned US drone was shot down allegedly by the Iranian military over what the US said were international waters in the Gulf, but Ambassador Ravanchi has repeated Iran’s assertion that the drone had been violating Iranian airspace when it was shot down.