Under the leadership of US President Donald Trump, the United Nations Security Council met in New York on Wednesday. It should be about measures against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction - Trump used his speaking time but mainly to put his own agenda in the foreground. He again sharply attacked the Iranian government. He called on the Security Council to support his tough line with Iran.
The other member states of the Council should work with the US "to see that the Iranian regime changes its behavior and never gets an atomic bomb," Trump said. He again accused Tehran of exporting "violence, terror and turmoil". Since the "terrible" 2015 agreement on Iran's nuclear program, Iran's "aggression has only increased".
Trump denounced above all the Iranian support for the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in the civil war. The "butchery" by the Syrian leadership is made possible by Iran as well as Russia. Since Iran is not among the 15 members of the Security Council, President Hassan Rohani did not participate.
New sanctions against Iran in November
Trump's course against Iran, however, meets with massive resistance from the other four permanent members of the Council. China, France, the United Kingdom and Russia were involved in the negotiation of the nuclear deal, which the US president considers completely inadequate and which he unilaterally canceled in May.
Trump has reinstated previous US sanctions against Iran. Further sanctions against Iran's oil exports are expected to follow in November. The US president announced now in the Security Council that even after that should not be over. Additional US sanctions would follow to "address the full spectrum of Iran's malignant behavior."
Already on Tuesday, in a speech to the UN General Assembly, the US President scourged the "corrupt dictatorship" in Iran and called on the world's states to "isolate the Iranian regime."
The other four permanent Security Council members, as well as the EU and Germany, which is also participating in the Iran agreement, want to save the agreement. To this end, the EU has drafted a plan that will partially offset the US sanctions.
China resists Trump's allegations
The meeting also turned to China and reiterated attempts to interfere in the upcoming US elections. "Regrettably, we found out that China has tried to intervene against my government in the upcoming 2018 elections," Trump said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi resisted the accusation in the Security Council. "China has always followed the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, we are not and will not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries." The allegations are "unjustified".
Previously, Trump had signaled support for a two-state solution to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the margins of the UN General Assembly. An independent state of Palestine would emerge alongside Israel. "I think the two-state solution is what works best," said Trump.
More than 140 heads of state and government will speak in the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly until next Monday, and numerous high-level meetings in front of and behind the scenes are planned on the sidelines.