BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA
After weeks of rising tensions, American and Iranian officials confronted one another Thursday at the United Nations Security Council, where the United States delivered a sharp warning to Tehran even as President Donald Trump appeared to signal interest in easing the standoff between the longtime adversaries.
The meeting unfolded against the backdrop of Iran’s violent suppression of nationwide protests, which activists say have claimed at least 2,677 lives. U.S. officials, joined by prominent Iranian dissidents, used the session to condemn what they described as a brutal campaign by Iran’s leadership to silence dissent and maintain control.
U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz struck a forceful tone in remarks to the council, emphasizing that the Trump administration was prepared to act if the bloodshed continued. He portrayed Trump as decisive and warned Iran’s leaders not to underestimate Washington’s willingness to respond.
“President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk,” Waltz told the council. “He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.”
The comments came at a moment of mixed signals from Washington. While the threat of U.S. retaliation has loomed over the region for days, Trump has also suggested that the killing of protesters may be slowing, raising the possibility of de-escalation. On the ground, demonstrations challenging Iran’s theocratic system appeared increasingly subdued by Thursday, though a sweeping state-imposed blackout on internet and communications remained in effect.
Behind the scenes, regional diplomacy has intensified. One diplomat familiar with the discussions said senior officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar spent the past 48 hours urging Trump to refrain from military action. They warned that a U.S. strike on Iran could jolt global energy markets and further destabilize an already volatile Middle East.
Inside the Security Council chamber, Iran pushed back aggressively. Hossein Darzi, Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, accused Washington of stoking unrest inside Iran and using human rights as a pretext for intervention.
“Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people, the United States is attempting to portray itself as a friend while laying the groundwork for political destabilization and military intervention under a so-called humanitarian narrative,” Darzi said.
The United States had requested the emergency Security Council meeting and took the unusual step of inviting two Iranian dissidents to address the body directly. Their testimony brought an emotional and personal dimension to the proceedings.
Masih Alinejad, a journalist and activist living in exile, confronted the Iranian delegation with a chilling account of attempts on her life. Speaking directly toward Iran’s representative, she said she had survived three assassination plots orchestrated by Tehran.
“You have tried to kill me three times,” Alinejad said, describing how she saw a would-be assassin outside her home in Brooklyn. The Iranian official remained expressionless, staring ahead without responding.
Last year, two men described by U.S. authorities as members of a Russian criminal network were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for plotting to murder Alinejad in New York on behalf of the Iranian government.
Another dissident, Ahmad Batebi, recounted the abuse he said he suffered in Iranian prisons, describing severe wounds inflicted by guards and the deliberate pouring of salt into those injuries. He challenged the council to doubt him, offering to show the scars on his body as proof.
Both speakers urged the international community to hold Iran accountable and appealed directly to Trump to maintain pressure on Tehran.
“You encouraged people to go into the streets. That was a good thing,” Batebi said. “But don’t leave them alone.”
Among the council’s members, Russia stood alone in defending Iran’s actions, accusing the United States of interference and warning against what it described as external manipulation of Iran’s internal affairs.
Meanwhile, signs from inside Iran suggested the protest movement was being forcefully suppressed. Videos of demonstrations, which had circulated widely in previous days, largely disappeared, likely due to intensified security deployments and the communications blackout. In Tehran, residents said streets showed no fresh signs of overnight unrest, and the gunfire that had echoed through neighborhoods earlier in the week had fallen silent.
The reported death toll continues to climb. A U.S.-based human rights organization said Thursday that at least 2,677 people have been killed, an increase of more than 100 from the previous day. The group, which relies on a network of sources inside Iran to verify fatalities, said the number is likely to rise further and already surpasses casualties seen in any other period of unrest in Iran in decades, evoking memories of the upheaval surrounding the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Independent verification has been difficult because of Iran’s communication restrictions, and Iranian authorities have not released official casualty figures.
As diplomatic pressure mounted, Washington escalated its economic response. The Trump administration announced new sanctions targeting senior Iranian officials accused of directing or encouraging the crackdown. Among those sanctioned was the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security, whom U.S. officials say was among the first to call for violence against demonstrators.
International partners signaled they may follow suit. The Group of Seven industrialized nations warned that additional sanctions could be imposed if Iran’s repression continues, while European Union leaders said they were exploring tougher measures. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was considering stronger sanctions to intensify pressure on Tehran and force political change.
As protests fade from the streets but tensions remain high at the diplomatic level, the confrontation at the United Nations underscored the precarious balance between restraint and escalation, with the next steps by Washington and Tehran carrying consequences far beyond Iran’s borders.
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