Guterres Pushes for Peaceful Solution: “De-Escalation Is Essential” Between Tehran and Washington
As Trump continues to allude to the possibility of military action against Tehran in his recent State of the Union address, the UN appeals for diplomacy.
United Nations
Sphinx News: Ahmed Ali
As rhetorical exchanges between Tehran and Washington scale up, following U.S. President Trump’s recent State of the Union Address, the UN urges a diplomatic solution.
In his State of the Union Address yesterday, Trump appealed for a diplomatic solution between Washington and Tehran, positing, however, that Tehran has not yet agreed to “those secret words: We will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Speaking to both chambers of Congress yesterday, Trump upheld the U.S. position, posturing Washington as vehemently against any of Tehran’s purported “nuclear capabilities” and accusing “the regime of developing missiles that could strike the U.S. mainland.”
Polemical in his rhetoric against the Iranian government, Trump has repeatedly made clear that Tehran are “tough negotiators”, and it was the United States military that conducted, in the summer of 2025, Operation “Midnight Hammer”, which ostensibly debilitated the government’s alleged nuclear program. Notably, Trump told members of Congress yesterday, “We wiped it out and they want to start all over again. And they’re at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions.”
Trump added that after June 2025, “they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular, nuclear weapons – yet they continue”. Trump would further criticize the Iranian administration as “inciters of terrorism”, claiming yesterday, “The regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism and death and hate.”
While Trump noted that members of his administration are in active “negotiations with them” and that the Iranian government, according to him, “want to make a deal”, the intense speech did not preclude members of the Iranian government from responding in an equally assertive manner.
Iran has adamantly held for years that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, where neither U.S. intelligence nor the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) have found sufficient evidence within the last year to suggest that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
Key figures within the Islamic Republic, notably Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have held that developing such nuclear capacity and dangerous weaponry is in direct contravention of their devout Islamic principles, where their Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has said since 2019, “Building and stockpiling nuclear bombs is wrong and using it is haram… Although we have nuclear technology, Iran has firmly avoided it.”
Nonetheless, Tehran’s Foreign Ministry responded today, with ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accusing Trump of “big lies” in his claims about his government. Baghaei added in a post on X, “Professional liars are good at creating the ‘illusion of truth’”, adding that “whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies’.”
The comments from both the Islamic Republic and the United States come as both administrations are expected to renew in-person negotiations tomorrow in Geneva, Switzerland. In previous high-level discussions held earlier this month in Oman, Trump’s high-level delegation, leading the negotiation on the American side, has been his Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and his Senior Adviser, Jared Kushner. On the Iranian side, their high-level delegation has been led by their Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi.
On the matter, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, mentioned today in his press briefing that “we (the United Nations) would like to see a deescalation, and like everybody, we are looking forward to the talks being held in Geneva tomorrow.”
