Melania Trump Meets with UN Security Council Members as U.S.-Israel War with Iran Enters Third Day

United Nations, New York City

Sphinx News: Ahmed Ali

Presiding over the Security Council meeting focusing on children in conflict, US First Lady Melania Trump gathered at the UN days after dozens of children at a school in Iran were reportedly killed in US-Israel strikes.

Yesterday, Iranian state media reported at least 153 people, including children, have died after a reported strike hit a school in southern Iran. The strikes, according to Iran, were conducted by both the United States and Israel in their ongoing hostilities with Tehran. Despite Israeli authorities denying such strikes, with the IDF releasing a statement yesterday saying it “was not aware” of any IDF operations in the area, the US military’s Central Command (Centcom) has since responded. Centcom spokesman Tim Hawkins said: “We take these reports seriously. The protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimise the risk of unintended harm.”

The girls’ school was located in Minab, near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base, which has previously been a target.

Polemical in his appeals, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called the incident a “barbaric act” and “another black page in the record of countless crimes committed by the aggressors.”

In his briefing to reporters today just before the Security Council meeting, Iranian Ambassador Iravani said it is “deeply shameful and hypocritical” for the US to convene a meeting on protecting children during war while launching attacks on heavily populated Iranian cities. He added, “For the United States, ‘protecting children’ and ‘maintaining international peace and security’ clearly mean something very different from what the UN Charter provides.”

Ambassador Iravani added that such measures against civilian casualties “is in direct violation of international law,” referring to Article 2, paragraph 4 of the UN Charter. The Security Council meeting on Saturday, he professed, was clear in it defining the actions as illegal, urging Council members to adopt appropriate procedures, mechanisms, and policies aimed at curtailing the “aggressors.”

Iravani claimed that the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khameini, is of itself an “egregious act, and a direct attack on sovereign equality.”

In his final point, Ambassador Iravani stated “that the United States and Israel are deliberately targeting civilian and civilian infrastructure,” aiming strikes at “schools, hospitals, Red Crescent facilities, and residential buildings.”

Also addressing members of the press before the Security Council meeting, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon forcefully defended the joint operation. Thanking President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Danon said the objectives were clear: “No nuclear weapon. No ballistic missile threat. Destroy the navy and crush the regime’s proxy network.”

“We are winning decisively, surgically, without apology,” he said, adding that as Israeli and U.S. forces dismantle what he called the Iranian regime’s military infrastructure, Tehran is “lashing out in desperation.”

Danon claimed that over recent days missiles had been fired not only at Israel but also toward the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and even Cyprus. “This is not strategy, it is panic, it is desperate,” he said.

While insisting that Israel targets “military infrastructure,” Danon accused Iran of striking civilian areas, including apartment buildings near Jerusalem. He described an attack that allegedly killed nine civilians, including three siblings, Sarah, Abigail, and Jacob, in their home.